ianscyberspace posted: " Photo by Radu Florin on Pexels.com Relationship Redefined On returning home they rushed to contact their moms and to their surprise were met with a torrent of anger at the end of the conversation each being instructed not to have anything to do w" ianscyberspace
On returning home they rushed to contact their moms and to their surprise were met with a torrent of anger at the end of the conversation each being instructed not to have anything to do with each other. It was painful memories of betrayal on the part of Samantha Farmer and Amy Farmer. The former believed Amy had enticed Ralph away from his marriage obligations. The latter convinced that Samantha had been the one who had betrayed the marriage as she'd been led to believe and thus thrust this dishonourable man onto her horizon.
As Brett and Fran sat together in class the next day each indicated they needed to meet again to catch up on a report of those individual conversations. There was a hasty report over shared lunch in the cafeteria and it was agreed thy should meet again that evening to determine the way ahead. Each had formed a strong bond in that first encounter, and they were not willing to let that go now as they considered they were in a way brother and sister.
This time they decided to put what they'd learned into an email to their respective moms and that way there'd not be the emotion of discussing it on the phone. The two newly created siblings could not see any reason not to have a continuing relationship and wanted to bring their moms into a recognition neither of the women were to blame of the breakup of marriage. They may never feel comfortable to meet but at least they could understand why Brett and Fran wanted to maintain this relationship as siblings and it would give each woman a chance to independently investigate to find out the truth rather than lies Ralph had told to justify his wrong actions.
It took a month for the respective moms and grandparents to investigate the facts and discover the lies Ralph had told to justify his actions adversely affecting each family and to develop a grudging feeling of acceptance of their children's desire to maintain a relationship.
The first breakthrough came when on a long weekend vacation, the Dodge family agreed to Brett's request to have Fran join them at their seaside Dodge family property overlooking the ocean with its sprawling complex of buildings and multiple bedrooms. The grandparents had conducted a thorough investigation of Brett's report and found that Ralph Farmer had equally abused his trust with the Dodge and Mayer families. Samantha Farmer had been angered by her daughter's acceptance, but the Mayer family had been in touch with the Dodges and had an understanding each family had been duped by their son in law. So, the Mayer grandparents tried to calm their daughter who was most distressed at what Samantha viewed as a betrayal by her own family and her daughter. But eventually saw reason.
That weekend Fran came under intense scrutiny by all present as memories of Amy's sad experience was very fresh in everyone's memory. But eventually they warmed to this young woman who showed breeding and tolerance of the family interest in everything she said and did. She went out of her way to help in any way she could. By the end of those few days Fran had been accepted as one of their own. She made sure to stay in contact with her mom throughout the day sending pictures of places they visited and assuring her mom these people were not to blame for her own experience and were in fact duped just as much as Samantha had been. Slowly Samantha came to realize each family had commonly been mistreated and were not to blame.
Joseph Mayer was surprised one day toward the end of the year when his administrative secretary came to inform him that there was a phone call from one Rudolph Dodge asking if it would be possible for him to meet with Joseph that day as he was in the city for a quick visit. His administrative secretary told him that Rudolph Dodge was the majority shareholder of the Dodge Pharmaceutical Industrial complex. This was an important person and Joseph Mayer realized he could not say no though he realized it was the family of the woman who'd replaced his own daughter in marriage to Ralph Farmer who he detested. He took the phone call, and it was agreed he'd accept Dodge's invitation to a dinner meeting that evening at seven O'clock. At the appointed time he turned up at the Ritz Hotel and was ushered into a private dining room. Greeting was extended and a menu handed to Joseph to select his choice of food while they talked business.
Rudolph got down to business immediately. He was looking for suitable industrial sites within this city and wondered if Joseph was interested in doing a search for him so the next time, he visited he and some of his administrative team could inspect sites available. Of course, Joseph jumped at the chance of a lucrative job and thanked Rudolph for considering his firm. They ate their meal and slowly Rudolph bought the conversation around to the situation of their common betrayal by Ralph Farmer which had done so much damage to their daughters. Rudolph mentioned that they'd met Joseph's adopted granddaughter and were happy that their grandson and Fran had discovered a common link and liked each other. They hoped that someday Samantha could understand that their daughter Amy had been duped and was not the home breaker the Mayer's had been led to believe. For the sake of their grandchildren could the families be friends.
Joseph had investigated the matter a long time ago and was convinced that what Rudolph was asking was reasonable. He stated that his daughter Samantha was still deeply wounded by the experience, but he'd talk with her and try and make her comfortable with Brett and Fran being the brother and sister they wanted to be now. In the meantime, he looked forward to their friendship and working with the Dodge family to serve their interests.
Amelia sat with her daughter Samantha that evening and gently presented the Dodge request for friendship and understanding that they were innocents in the Ralph Farmer series of indiscretions. Samantha wept bitterly as her mother held her in her arms but eventually calmed down. She could see clearly that Amy Farmer, daughter of the Dodge family had been equally as duped as she had but struggled to release Amy from her hatred of her former husband. But she'd come to realize hate was destroying her not her husband and by the end of the evening she was at peace and comfortable with the relationship between her daughter and Brett Farmer. Amelia communicated this to her husband Jacob, and he nodded in appreciation. He'd pass this along to Rudolph Dodge next day and inquire when Dodge would next be visiting their city. He'd make this one of the top priorities of his firm in searching out suitable properties for the Dodge factory expansions.
Years went by and Brett and Fran grew accustomed to being at the family events of both the Mayer and Dodge families. It was time for the graduation exercises as they finished their course work and projects and were now ready to receive their diplomas. Their practice teaching had been done in different schools, but they'd kept in close contact with each other and rejoiced together as they returned to finish classwork after each practice teaching assignment. Their journey through university was about to end and they were looking at job opportunities now. Old Rudolph Dodge had come to terms with the fact his grandson would not be working in the family enterprise and was training cousins to carry on family control though Brett would certainly inherit a huge slice of the corporate share control when Rudolph died. Fran would seek teaching appointments in this city to be near her mother who had finally come to terms with reality and was occupied in the family business. She was presently seeing a man about her age who'd lost his wife, but parents had been a friend of the family since earliest memories. Samantha was beginning to trust again.
Rudolph proposed to Joseph they hold a great joint celebration to honour their grandchildren who were graduating and finance it together inviting family and the grandchildren's close friends to mark the occasion. Joseph readily agreed and this was a further bonding of the family. This was to be the first meeting of Amy and Samantha Farmer and they circled each other at the event sizing each other up but when introduced immediately felt an attraction and enjoyed each other's company that evening. This event bought about a close bonding between the Dodge and Mayer families and bought closure to their joint traumatic experience with Ralph Farmer that endured for many years until their eventual passing on.
At that celebration Brett lamented the fact they were probably going to separate and go their own ways now as it would be unlikely, they'd find jobs in the same city and that's what did transpire but they kept in daily contact from their respective cities through messaging and phone calls.
Brett missed the close relationship they'd enjoyed through their university years together and the more he thought about it the more he wanted them to continue to be together. He'd had romantic inclinations about this young woman for months now and it was coming up to Christmas when they planned to vacation together in Europe after spending time with each of their families. It suddenly struck him that with Fran being adopted there was nothing to prevent him from asking her to marry him, but they'd been functioning as brother and sister for years now and he didn't know how Fran would react if he approached her to be his wife after all she considered him as her brother. He decided to talk with his grandfather and Rudolph saw no problem in they were not blood related.
Then he flew to the city where Fran and her family were located and asked to see Joseph. He put his problem to Joseph who was initially shocked. They'd come to view them as a brother and sister even though there was no blood relationship. Joseph asked if Brett had discussed this with Fran and he said no he wanted to clear it with Joseph first before approaching Fran. Joseph shrugged. There was no blood relationship so no legal prohibition there, but it was hard to get his head around this potential change in relationship. He assured the young man there should be no issue from the Mayers and inquired if Brett had discussed this with the Dodges which he confirmed. Joseph told him to talk with Fran then and see if she was willing to accept this change of status. Why not join them for the annual Christmas celebration coming up soon and see how Fran felt about it there. If Fran agreed, they could make the announcement at the Christmas party when extended family would be present.
Fran was delighted when her brother Brett turned up to celebrate Christmas with the Mayers this year as he usually liked to celebrate with his own family.
On Christmas evening as they were both driving around the city looking at the decorations in suburban homes Brett stopped his car and turned to Fran.
"Fran I'm really nervous but I have something to ask you that I have to get off my chest this evening and I hope it works out the way I really want it to because I've been just bursting with the need to express this and am so unhappy, I haven't had the courage to do so before."
Fran smiled. She'd been hoping against hope to hear this since graduation but didn't know whether Brett was hung up on this brother and sister thing. She reached over and took his hand.
"Yes, Brett as I can see you are nervous let me make it easy for you. I will marry you. What took you so long to ask as I've had feelings for you for a long time that were not sisterly feelings. I thought you were committed to being my brother and wanted to go no further than that. But I couldn't think of a better Christmas present and am glad to know you love me as a man would love a wife. Yes! Yes! Now you can kiss me, but it should not be a kiss you would place on your sister's cheek."
Brett shouted happily and people walking by looked their way in surprise as he kissed his future bride.
She spoke again.
"Have you consulted your parents about this?"
"Yes!"
"So now we need to check with my parents."
"I've checked with your grandfather, and he is happy for this union, so I presume your grandma and mom know too."
"OK lets go home and announce it. I couldn't wish for a better Christmas present."
"I'll give you your engagement ring when we get there."
"You really did expect me to say I do then cheeky fellow."
"No just being hopeful and prepared that's all."
They sped home to share the news and Fran spoke again.
"I'd really like to dispose of the Farmer surname Brett. Would you consider if we could both change our name to Dodge?"
"That would be a wonderful suggestion and I think we should go through with that too. I'm happy we can draw the Mayer and Dodge families together in this union."
No comments:
Post a Comment