Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

Step by Step	By : Mac-man Category: -Misc TV Shows > Het - Male/Female Views: 977 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Step by Step, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Breaking the News
Foster-Lambert Kitchen: March 20, 1998
The Lamberts and Fosters were sitting around their kitchen table, enjoying the breakfast made for them by their mother/ step-mother, Carol Foster-Lambert. Carol was a beautiful woman, with long, blonde-hair, a voluptuous, well-proportioned figure, and expressive, intelligent blue-eyes. Carol owned and operated a beauty parlor, which at first operated out of the house, in an extra room, which was now JT and Rich’s apartment. She has now opened an independent shop, away from the house and partnered with her best-friend from beauty school, former beauty product mogul, and hairdresser extraordinaire, Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux. Carol is a very caring and loving individual, who has become as much of a mother to the Lambert kids as to her own children, providing them with a strong, female presence for the last seven-years.
At the head of the table, facing his family, is Frank Lambert, the patriarch of the Lambert clan, tall with dark, graying hair. He is a strong man, in character and body, and has instilled values in all of his kids, even the ones not of his blood. He runs a small, successful, contracting business, that gets work all over Wisconsin. Over the years he has tried to set an example for all of his kids – which includes Carol’s children – hoping to provide a positive, male role-model, even for the girls. He hopes that when they are ready to start their own lives, they will choose their partners that reflect some of Frank’s standards on life.
At the end of the large bench style table, was the culmination of Frank and Carol’s love, Lily Lauren Foster-Lambert, five years old, and just starting kindergarten. Despite her age, she was already displaying many characteristics from both families, she is smart and caring towards her family, but tough and resilient with the rest of the world. She’s still a little girl, still needing protection from the devils of this world, but she was already showing herself to be very precocious.
Coming up the table on both sides, were the two youngest, Lambert kids, Alicia ‘Al,’ the only girl among the Lamberts, and Brendan, the youngest of them all, before Lily. Al is a young lady, with red-hair and blue-eyes, and a body that has benefitted from all the sports she played as a young girl. Al had spent her first decade of life, especially after her mother left, surrounded by males, so when she first came to this house, she was very much a tomboy. She could play many sports, like baseball, basketball, and even football, and she was never afraid to bloody a lip, or flatten the nose of anybody that crossed her. Now, over the years of living in a house with women, Al has softened quite a bit, she has embraced her feminine side, but still retains enough of her tomboyish nature to make her strong, and able to stand up for herself, or for her nerdish step-brother.
Brendan has black-hair and blue eyes and was tall for his age, with a carefree, and laid back spirit, he was the first out of all the kids to accept and even embrace his new family, and he is always willing to sacrifice himself to make his family happy. Being the youngest of the Lamberts, he suffered the most when his mother abandoned the family, he never understood why, one day his mom was there, and the next she was gone.
Continuing up the table, sitting next to Al was Mark Foster, tall for his age, he has wheat blonde-hair, a lean, and since he took up martial arts six-years ago, as well as basketball the last two years, a wiry, muscular frame. Mark is the bookish, nerd of the family, very well-versed in computer technology, he is already looking at a few colleges out of state, namely in Massachusetts and California, it does not really matter to him as long as he gets into a program that challenges him. Mark has benefitted the most from the influence of the Lamberts, they have helped him come out of his shell, instilling confidence and self-worth into his character, not to mention examples of what it means to be a man, the practical habits such as shaving and grooming, as well as the character-driven aspects of manhood, like hard-work and tenacity. Oddly, in spite of the gender difference, the Lambert, he is closest to other than Frank, is Al, they seem to do more things together outside of the house, than any of the other kids.
On the other side of Mark, was the raven-haired, would-be beauty queen and model of the Lambert-Foster household, Karen Foster. She is the second oldest and middle daughter of Carol and had inherited her biological father’s hair color. A fact, she has always been proud of, hence why she takes such good care of it, her father had died while Karen was still young, and everybody, when she was little would praise her for looking like him. As a result of her looks, Karen receives a lot of date requests and seems to be the most superficial one of the Fosters, though she has been more accepting of the extra members of her family, than her older sister Dana.
The last two members of the family, Dana Foster, and John Thomas ‘JT’ Lambert, were not, at the moment, sitting at the kitchen table. They had gone away for Spring Break with Dana’s boyfriend, Rich Halke, and JT’s girlfriend, Samantha ‘Sam’ Milano, to a ski resort in Colorado, and were due back today, at any minute. As if on cue, the door to the backyard opened and the last two members of the family walked in with huge smiles on their faces.
Dana walked in with her arms wide, “Hey, you guys,” she greeted them with a radiant smile, and enfolded Carol in a huge hug. This pleasantly surprised her mother, because Dana was not known for her demonstrative displays of affection, then they were all doubly surprised, because as soon as she finished hugging her mother, she turned around to give Frank a hug and a daughterly kiss on the cheek. Frank was not expecting that, hell nobody was expecting it, because while Dana, gradually accepting the Lamberts as a part of her household, has never really accepted any of them as family, though with Lily and to a lesser extent, Al, has shown herself to be a loving sister.
With the Lambert men, she has always kept a little bit of an emotional distance, rarely, if ever, showing them any form of affection. Though she has come to respect Frank, somewhat, she has never displayed this sort of warmth, but before Frank could question her about what was happening, she let go and almost appeared to glide her way down the table. She bestowed more kisses upon her two brothers and Lily, and hugged Al as tightly as she hugged her mother.
By this time, JT had taken his place next to Brendan, and just watched his step-sister greet their family, he was wondering when, or if, somebody would notice the rock attached to her left ring-finger. He could almost predict who it would be, based on past experience.
As Dana reached Karen, it seemed like the dark-haired beauty could home-in on the presence of jewelry, like a machine, specifically designed for that purpose. Dana came in, to hug her younger sister, as soon as the older sister placed her ring-hand on Karen’s shoulder, the younger one’s eyes seemed to light up as she grabbed her sister’s left-hand, and mechanically began to recite the information coming to her brain. “Metal: 24-carat gold; jewel and color: diamond, canary-yellow; cut: princess; function: engagement ring,” then Karen seemed to return to herself, before standing up abruptly to stare at Dana for confirmation, who nodded as her own smile, if at all possible, got even bigger. Karen suddenly squealed, clapping her hands in excitement, “Oh, my God, Dana, you’re engaged to Rich Halke,” before diving into another hug, and jumping up and down in pure exuberance, “I’m so happy for you!”
At this everybody around the table got up and crowded around Rich Halke’s fiancée, to congratulate her, who had tears in her eyes, “Thank you, Karen!”
“So, the dimwit you started tutoring last year, finally grew some brains and asked you to marry him,” Al asked, while standing in front of Mark, she seemed to be leaning back against him subconsciously, “it’s about damn time!”
“Yep, he finally smartened up enough to know that he couldn’t do better than Barky, here,” JT answered for Dana, “so he asked his dad for the ring.”
“Thanks for the compliment, Lardo,” she retorted.
Mark, who had taken his sister’s hand to do his own inspection of the ring, consequently reaching over Al with his outstretched arm, and placing a hand on her shoulder to balance himself, “I didn’t know Rich’s family had that kind of money, this is a six-figure ring, I’ve been over to his house when we’d go shoot some hoops, but I never saw anything over there to indicate they had that kind of money?”
“It’s a family heirloom, his grandfather got it during the last World War,” Dana clarified for Mark, “he used it to proposed to Rich’s grandmother, and his dad gave it to his mom. I hope that whatever children, Rich and I may have, will give it to their spouses,” Dana stated absently, as a different glow seemed to light up her face.
Lily was a little confused about what was going on, so she shyly moved up to Dana and tugged on her blouse, which pulled the neckline down about an inch, revealing a bite mark. Dana hastily recovered the blemish on her skin, before turning down to smile at her youngest sister. Lily was looking reticent but asked anyway, “If you become Rich’s wife, does that mean you won’t be my sister anymore?”
Everybody in the room smiled at the child’s naiveté, but Dana just knelt down to hug her, “no, Lily-bear, I may be about to change my name to Dana Ivy Halke and live with my husband, but nothing can change the fact that you’re my baby sister, and I wouldn’t let it, if there was anything that could.” Leaning back, Dana looked into the little girl’s beautiful eyes and smiled encouragingly, “now come on, you get to be a flower-girl, and wear pretty dresses, while eating wedding cake, you’re gonna love weddings.”
Lily had smiled at Dana’s reassurance and even more at the idea of cake, before giggling and hugging Dana’s neck, “I love you, Dana.”
“And I love you,” Dana replied with a tear in her eye, I’ll never get over the way my married name feels to me. I may be a strong and powerful, independent woman, but not taking my husband’s name is where I draw the line. Which was why I have always been picky about whom I date, they had to be worthy enough for me to take their name, if I was going to marry them.
Brendan had been looking around, to hide his discomfort over the sappy display between his sisters, when he noticed the absence of somebody, “Hey, where is Rich,” he wondered aloud, “shouldn’t he be here?”
Dana looked up at her youngest brother, “Oh, Rich is on his way to MEPS in Great Lakes, Illinois,” she told them, and at their questioning faces she explained what that meant, “Military Entrance Processing Station. Rich has decided to enlist in the Navy, he left for his medical evaluation, as soon as we got off the bus from the ski-lodge, this morning.”
Everybody’s eyes except Lily’s had gone wide with astonishment, “What about his college education,” Carol asked?
“If he passes his medical eval and earns a high score on the aptitude test, he’s going to finish this year and then drop out of college,” Dana explained to her mother, “his recruiter told him if he finishes his third-year with good marks and made it to the Fleet, or whatever his permanent duty station happened to be, then he would automatically earn his Petty Officer Third Class ranking.”
“So, that’s it, you’re just going to give up everything you worked for to follow him around from base to base,” Carol asked with increasing volume, “you’re going to give up your dream of being a lawyer, just to become his dependent?”
“Carol,” Frank said as a warning!
“No, Frank,” Carol screamed, “she will not do this to herself, I won’t let her do this. I won’t let her marry some loser, who will likely leave her at home while he sails off to God knows where, and sleep with every whore in every port!” Carol’s eyes went wide, as she suddenly realized how she had let her feelings for Rich slip out, she was shocked at herself, and had clamped a hand over her mouth.
Dana’s eyes had grown hard, as she listened to her mother talk about her fiancé like he was a piece of garbage. She looked at her baby sister and smiled, then pulled her into a hug, before setting Lily down, and getting to her feet. Dana looked at her siblings, they were looking at her mother with an odd assortment of expressions, they ranged from confusion, to shock, to angry, even a little fear on some of their faces, then Dana looked up at Frank’s face and saw disappointment in his wife.
Dana did not know she was moving, until she found herself standing directly in front of her mother. “Will you guys, take Lily into another part of the house, please,” Dana asked, but it was not a request, “I need to have a few words with this woman, about insulting my fiancé?”
JT was the first one to move around the table, he picked up Lily, who had a sad and puzzled expression on her face, “Come on Lily, let’s go watch TV upstairs, mommy and Dana have grown-up stuff to talk about.” He moved toward the back staircase, and up into the house. Karen’s steps seemed heavy as she followed her step-brother and little sister up the staircase toward her room. Al grabbed Mark’s arm and pulled him into the living room, while Brendan moved to the backdoor and walked out of the house.
Frank started to move after Brendan, until Dana halted him, “Frank, can you please stay, I think you might be able to prevent me from starting a physical altercation?”
“Okay, Dana,” Frank agreed, “but I’m only going to intervene, if things do get physical, whatever you have to say to her is something she needs to hear. For now, until we all leave this kitchen, I am deaf to all insults aimed at my wife,” Frank stated neutrally.
Dana just nodded at her step-father, without taking her eyes off her mother, her eyes had remained hard and unflinching since her mother’s tirade, but now they took on an intensity that started to scare Carol. Carol tried to say something, “Dana, please…”
“First of all, I wasn’t planning on giving up a fucking thing for Rich, and he’s never asked me to do that, we were planning to get married before he shipped off to his basic training,” Dana spat out interrupting her mother’s speech, “I was going to finish my four-years here at EWU, before transferring to a law school. Well, I take it back, I will give up one part of my dream for Rich, I don’t need an Ivy league education to get my law degree, so Harvard is out,” Dana amended, before her eyes returned to their previous intensity, “but other than that one little deviation, nothing has changed, I will still attend law school.”
“Secondly, who the fuck do you think you are telling me, what I can and cannot do with my life,” Dana snarled? “I am twenty-one years old,” she added, “that means I am old enough, legally to make my own decisions, about a great many things, including who I want to marry. This is my last year at East Wisconsin,” Dana yelled, “and it’ll be three years, before I complete law school. I’m going to be busting my hump trying to make the top of my class, so I can look attractive to top law firms.”
“Now, if you were anybody else other than my mom, and you had insulted my Rich like that,” Dana said through her teeth, “you would be eating my knuckles! Rich is one of the sweetest, most tenderhearted guys I’ve ever met, he doesn’t even look at other women when we’re out together, except when we order food, and then its only at her face. Even when we’re not out together, and you can confirm this with JT, he doesn’t ogle women, and he has told me why,” she explained firmly, “but I keep that reason locked in my heart. It keeps my heart from straying when I admire another man,” by now her voice had softened as she recalled what her Rich told her, and she placed her hand over her heart to feel how fast it was beating. Dana took a couple of deep breaths to calm down, and a loving smile formed on her lips, my Richie isn’t even here, and he is still influencing my emotions, just thinking about him is enough to make me smile.
“Mom, I love you, and you have always been my inspiration,” Dana told her with a smile, before hardening her heart once more, “but Richie is the man of my dreams, I have never felt safer and more loved than when we are together. He gets me to open my eyes and look beyond my narrow-minded views of the world,” Dana admitted, while looking over at Frank and beaming a loving, daughterly smile at him, “he helps me understand what you saw, seven-years ago, in a primitive, uncouth Neanderthal, sitting at a bar in Mexico.”
Dana turned to face her mother, “Karen has told me that you seem to be having letting go issues, an acute case of empty-nest syndrome as she called it, when you thought it would be perfectly normal to stalk her, in all of her classes in her first week of college. I may not understand where you’re coming from, I’m not a mother, yet,” Dana stated with a gentle smile, as she placed her hand over the blemish on her skin, then looking at her parents, the smile never leaving her lips, “but you are going to have to learn how to deal with it, because you are going to go through this same event six more times. All of us, are eventually going to grow up and move on with our lives, some more than others, or have you forgotten that Mark is already sending out scholarship applications to Stanford and MIT. Karen, despite her preoccupation with her looks, is going through a Pre-Med program at school as we speak, the closest Medical School to here is in Chicago, so mom, you’re going to have to learn to deal with the fact that your kids are growing up, and starting to seek lives for themselves outside of this house. That’s up to you however, but whether you accept it or not, it’s going to happen and unless you have the power to stop time, there is nothing you can do to change that.”
“Now, I am going to start organizing the wedding party, I will be setting my wedding date for a month before Rich leaves for boot-camp, whenever that is,” Dana said as she moved passed her mother, trying to hide the tears of hurt her mother’s declaration caused in her, and went to the door of Rich and JT’s apartment. “I need to call the reverend and keep him on standby, Sam has already agreed to be my Maid of Honor, while I ask Karen and Al to be Bride’s Maids, and Rich is already showing that he knows me pretty well. He’s going to have a woman in place of Best Man, he’s going to ask Cassie, and has already amended the title to Best Person, but he’s going to let JT organize the Bachelor Party. I’m toying with the idea of letting Mark, give me away,” she turned back to Frank with a smile, “no offense, Frank, I do kind of see you as a father-figure, but I want a male and female blood-relative to do it.” Dana turned away from him with a smile, and added, “I’m a feminist, but that’s one of the few traditions, I don’t have an issue with,” and with that Dana opened the door to her boyfriend… fiancé’s apartment.
Frank smiled back at her, and answered, “I understand, Dana, I’ll have a couple of chances to give away the bride with Alicia and Lily, so I won’t feel left out. I’m more than happy to volunteer Brendan and myself as ushers.”
She stopped before she closed it, her shoulders were sagging in resignation, then asked in a subdued voice, “hey mom, will you join Mark, in giving me away, if not, I’m sure Karen could do double duty?”
Carol, who was still facing the living-room door, could not keep the trickle of tears from rolling down her face, as she realized that she had not just lost her daughter, because of her irrational fears of letting go, “I would be honored…” but before she could say anything else, the door slammed shut.
Holy Matrimony
Foster-Lambert Backyard: June 15, 1998
Dana Foster-soon-to-be-Halke stood at the head of the aisle, looking out into her future, while remembering the past, particularly the past four-or-so months. Today was the day of her wedding, on this day, she would give up one more piece of her childhood and take one more, crucial step into adulthood. She turned her head toward the head of the aisle, the wedding colors were a mixture of navy-blue, teal-green, and royal-yellow, the maid-of-honor and the bridesmaids’ dresses were in teal-green with royal-yellow accents, while the grooms-people wore navy-blue with royal-yellow trim.
Dana had gone with a simple, sleeveless, white-lace and tulle, wedding dress, it went from a high-collar to ankle-length, with a modest bust, accentuating her slender-frame. She chose ankle, instead of floor-length, because of her chosen venue, the back yard of her childhood home, and sleeveless to reflect the summer season. She had decided against the veil, because she wanted her Richie to see her eyes as she came to him, she never wanted him to doubt for a second, that she loved him with every fiber of her being. She carried a bouquet of white lilies, while the bridesmaids carried a single white lily, except for Sam, the maid-of-honor, who carried three. Her hair had been returned to its natural, sunny-blonde hair color, and Jean-Luc had turned it into a work of art. Karen had done her make-up, which was subtle, just enough to highlight her best features, while minimizing, but never hiding, her worst. It was what Dana wanted, from something Rich said to her, at one point during the last four-months, as he was looking into her eyes.
They had just finished making-love, and she had lamented to him about the lack of size in her breast area, something she thought all men liked, but Rich was not like many men, he said to her, “Dana, you’re like a rare diamond, even the most beautifully cut gem has flaws, and the smaller the flaws the more valuable the diamond. But the jewels without flaws, are worth next to nothing, they have no value because they’re fake, chemically grown in a laboratory. I love you because you’re real, genuine, and passionate in your beliefs. I don’t agree with you about your breasts, I enjoy them very much, they are a part of you, which means that I love them just the way they are." Then he cracked a joke about how, if she got implants if their baby, whenever they decide to have them, would feel like they were drinking from a milk jug, she swatted him on the arm, before launching her face at his lips, and they went for another round of their favorite new hobby.
The wedding hymn, sounded from speakers, the guys mounted under the eaves of the roof, yesterday. This brought Dana’s attention back to the here and now, she looked up toward the other end of the aisle, where she saw the minister of her and Rich’s church standing with the Bible. Al began marching, toward the small, raised platform that would also be used as the dancefloor later. Mark came up to Dana’s left and presented his arm for her to hook her arm through, as that was happening, another arm came up and linked arms with Dana’s right. She turned her head and smiled radiantly, as her mother’s blue-eyes and smiling face greeted her.
It had taken a couple of months, but Dana and her mother, had slowly returned to their relationship before Carol had shot off her big mouth. As soon as Dana had closed the door, that was when the dam burst on her emotions, she hated her mom at that moment, for taking away her joy at what should have been the happiest moment of her life. She threw herself on Rich’s bed and began balling her eyes out, she was clutching his pillow to her chest, and wishing more than anything that it was the man she loved holding her. Dana was also glad, he had not been present to hear what her mother thought of him, if he had heard what she said, Dana just knew it would have hurt his feelings. If that had happened, Dana did not believe she would ever be able to forgive Carol, it was her job to protect her man, even from her mother, she could never have accepted that look of barely concealed hurt, her mother’s words would have caused in him.
Dana remembered seeing that look, the night he serenaded her in that restaurant. He had walked in with that karaoke boom-box in his hand, Dana had taken one look at his face and saw the barely concealed pain in his eyes, the desperation not to lose her, and it was those emotions that had made her turn away from him when he first entered the restaurant. They had pierced through her like a spear, she had still been angry at him, but it was at that moment she realized how much she meant to him, she had already decided to forgive him and take him back. The song he sang and his willingness to humiliate himself for her, just made things easier.
She heard the door open, and looked up, to see Karen and Al standing there, Dana tried to sit up and conceal the ravages of her crying fit. Her sisters, however, were having none of it, they marched over to her and sat next to Dana on the bed, she was sandwiched by her sisters, who immediately put their arms around her. They never said a word, as they hugged her between them, and it was this simple caring gesture that warmed her heart and caused her to begin crying again. She leaned her head against theirs and just let the tears begin flowing, though now it was a mixture of the hurt from earlier, and the realization that her sisters loved her, and she, them.
Dana cried herself to sleep, while Al and Karen hugged her, she woke up the next morning alone. She assumed JT had just slept in his old room, and from the covers that had been placed over her, she guessed that one or both of her sisters had tucked her in, she was still clutching onto Rich’s pillow. I guess just the scent of him is comforting to me, she remembered thinking, she also remembered leaning down to sniff the sheets of the bed, then the comforter she had been wrapped in, and the next thing she knew, she was face down on Rich’s bed just trying to take in the scent of him. My need for my Richie is bordering on the clinical, I wonder if there’s such a thing as a twelve-step program for getting over your boyfriend/ fiancé addiction, she wondered, SOA – Significant Others Anonymous, that thought had suddenly made her giggle, and even as she began her march toward her future husband, she giggled again at her notion. I guess my Richie has rubbed off on me more than I realized.
Dana’s mirth died as she remembered more of that day, after giggling to herself, she decided to get up and head out to Rich’s car. She remembered that in all of the emotional highs and lows of the day before, she had left her bags and ski equipment inside it. She smiled as she took the ski gear into the garage, it did not see very much powder on this trip, they had skied a little bit but most of their time had been spent holed up in their rooms, exploring each other. It was ironic really, she had even been a little more enthusiastic about exploring Mount Richie, than he was about diving into Dana Valley, not that you could notice much of a difference. She very much enjoyed their time together, he seemed to go out of his way to turn her into a puddle of goo, and she took it as a personal challenge to turn his legs to jelly. She also made it her mission during their intimate time together, to never waist a drop of her Richie’s essence, she was greedy for every ounce of him. That has not changed at all in the past few months, she had pretty much turned into his very willing slut, while he worshipped her body with a zealous ardor that made her feel like a goddess, and she enjoyed every, delicious inch of him.
After taking the ski equipment into the garage, she retrieved her bags from his car, and trudged into the house from the back yard. As soon as she opened the door, she stopped dead in her tracks, her good mood from just a second ago evaporating like fog from a window. Because sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, in a bathrobe and messy hair, was her mother.
Dana was locked in stasis for a few seconds, as everything that happened yesterday came roaring back. It should say something about the young lady’s emotions, when for a nanosecond, she almost wished Cody Lambert, Frank’s nephew and the one Lambert she truly detested to this day, had been sitting there instead of Carol. Luckily, when Cody heard about her wedding, in whatever flea-bitten hellhole he found himself in, he had only sent them a Cashier’s Check for ten-thousand dollars, which they had placed into a joint savings account, they affectionately referred to as the house fund. That, plus the thirty-thousand left-over from Rich’s college fund, should allow them to buy their first house as soon as Dana finished law school.
Carol turned to look at Dana as soon as the door opened, she turned her head away in guilt, when she saw who it was. Dana was fuming, as she quickly turned and closed the door, a little harder than she intended, before rushing to get to the back staircase. She had almost made it when, “I’m sorry, Dana,” she halted her movements, then slowly turned back to look at her mother, waiting for Carol to go on, “I’m sorry for the way I reacted, when you told us, you were getting married.” Carol had stood up and was slowly approaching her daughter, “and I am so happy for you, Dana. I have no excuse for talking about Rich, the way I did, I really believe that he is a good… man,” she started crying, as she recalled her terrible behavior, and the vicious things she said about him.
Dana’s own eyes had begun to leak a little moisture, and she turned her head away, to hide her tears. “You know, if yesterday had been the only time I’ve heard you say mean things about Rich, it would be much easier to forgive you. In fact, as I remember back over the course of my time with Rich, I seem to be noticing a pattern of bias against him. I could list a couple, right off the top of my head. When Rich and I were planning on eloping to get away from yours and Frank’s interference with our intimacy, you stormed into the wedding chapel, shouting for us to stop because I would be ruining my life by marrying Rich. An even better example, is when my friend at Harvard, came to take me for a tour of the campus, you didn’t bat an eyelash about letting me go with him. I was going to be spending the night alone with him, mine and Rich’s relationship was still pretty new, and we had a fight just before I left, it would’ve been easy for me to test the waters with this other guy. I was in another city, and it was half-way across the country on the eastern seaboard. Cambridge, Massachusetts, is not exactly across town,” Dana shuddered, just the idea of cheating on her Richie was repugnant to her. She thanks God every time she prays, for putting the notion into Rich’s mind to drive from Wisconsin to Massachusetts to crash the soiree, which was where he first told her he loved her, and when she realized that she loved him back.
Carol was about to say something, but Dana overrode her, “but when I told you, I was going to spend a night in a hotel with Sam, JT, and Rich, in Chicago which is not even two hours away, that’s when you suddenly become a concerned parent. Poor Rich, he was so confused that night,” Dana sighed with a nostalgic smile blooming on her lips, “I had just totally shut-down his rudimentary attempts to seduce me, he’d built up so many expectations of what being alone in a hotel room meant for us,” then Dana’s eyes hardened again as she bored into Carol’s eyes, “then that maintenance man came to our door, and said that my mother had wanted the door to my room taken off, because I was extremely claustrophobic, and that I was also a pathological liar. After we sent the janitor away, I was so pissed off at you, I was ready to fuck Rich’s brains out just to spite you.” Dana got side-tracked as she remembered, her and Rich’s last night at the ski lodge, and the rapture, he seems to be able to ring from her body, and they had only just started having sex, then she came back to the kitchen, “he was in the bathroom, changing out of his outer clothing, when you called, all apologetic about overstepping your bounds in telling me, how I conduct my relationship with my boyfriend.”
Dana could not help the giggle, that blossomed from her mouth, “he was wearing the most adorable, baby-blue, Mickey Mouse boxers, and a gray, sleeveless t-shirt, he came out of the bathroom doing a silly dance, but I had just hung up from you and was not in a spiteful mood anymore. This led to the realization that having sex with Rich out of spite, was the wrong way to lose my virginity, and it would have been wrong to use him like that. So, we waited, we waited until we were sure of our love for each other, we didn’t have sex until last week, when we got engaged,” Dana’s fond smile was more than proof enough of what she was saying, “and I’m glad we waited for love, because my Rich is as natural at handling me, as he is at pottery.”
Carol’s mouth was open at her daughter’s confession, she knew that blowing up at this point would be the wrong way to handle this situation, so in a calm voice she asked, “so you and Rich had sex on the ski trip?” Dana simply nodded, she was caught up in memories of her time with Rich, until Carol’s disapproving tone invaded her thoughts, “how could you do that Dana, I thought I could trust you, well I guess…”
“What does your trust have to do with it, mom,” Dana snapped, “this was my decision, well mine and Rich’s decision, his is the only trust that matters, when it comes to matters of sex? I am old enough to make my own decisions about whom I sleep with, I am in college and about to attend law school. I’m probably going to wait a year, so I can choose a college as close to Rich’s permanent duty station as possible, but really mom, your trust, has no baring in this particular area of my life.”
Carol was dumbfounded, her daughter had just completely shut her down about her sex life, and she could not find any fault in her argument. She was right, the only person’s trust that mattered, when sex was involved, was your partner’s trust, so Carol just sighed, “you’re right, Dana, and I’m sorry for making it sound like I don’t trust you, simply for having sex with, your fiancé, but did you two at least use protection.”
Dana nodded, “yes we did, as you know, I’m on birth control and Rich brought a box of condoms,” Dana was understanding of her mother’s perspective, it is not every day one of your kids tells you, she has a sex life. “By the way,” Dana began, while pointing up to the ceiling, “that rule about no intimacy between Rich and me, while we’re under this roof, is still in effect, we will respect the rules of this house.” Carol just smiled an accepting smile, but Dana moved on, as she pointed at the door to Rich’s apartment, “that however is not going to apply to that house, I’ve been learning a little about domicile laws in Wisconsin, and the law states that because that structure, was never considered a part of the house: you used it for your business, before converting it into an apartment for JT and Rich, in which you require them to pay rent: then it is not regarded as being a part of this domicile, therefore it will no longer be subject to the rules of this particular domicile.”
Carol just nodded in resignation, I guess Dana really is an adult, she resolved in her mind, my baby-girl really has grown-up, if instead of flat out refusing to follow that particular rule, she is showing me that she really, doesn’t have to follow it. “Okay, Dana, that’s fair, me and Frank really don’t have a choice but to comply with your wishes, just don’t forget, JT lives there too, and he has the right to enter and leave it as much as he sees fit.”
“So, you will respect the rules of society when entering Rich’s apartment, meaning you will knock and wait until we answer the door,” Dana added, with an innocent smile, “we will keep that door locked and chained, to prevent Lily from wandering in, and we will also knock on the door when we wish to enter this house. It will be your discretion to allow us to enter this part of the house and eat with you,” Dana continued, keeping that same smile as she laid down the new way, things were going to go from now on, “and we hope to be treated as guests, when we come into this house, and we will act as such when we’re granted entry.”
Carol was in the middle of nodding to Dana’s demands when something she said caught her attention, “We,” Carol asked?
“Well, yes, me and Rich are going to be taking over the apartment,” Dana told her with a smile, as she watched her mom’s mouth drop open in shock. “You didn’t think I was going to live in this house after I got married, did you? I’m going to be living with my husband, I need to be able to take care of him, and that means learning to feed him, learning to live with him, to live with another human-being. I’m sure we’re going to fight, and I don’t need or want my family to see us, it’ll be something, I’ll only share with my husband.”
Carol’s mouth was working, but nothing came out of it for a few seconds, then she found her voice, “but, what about JT, where is he going to live, how are you going to pay the rent when Rich is in boot camp?”
Dana’s smile turned confident, “JT didn’t say, he hasn’t told Frank about it yet, but he said he was going to try getting a job as a car salesmen, he said it seems to be one of the things he’s good at and before getting fired for wrecking his boss’s car, he made some pretty good money. As for me, I’m going to finish this year of college, and see if I can get a job as a legal assistant, or secretary in a firm around here. It’ll get me some legal experience, which many firms cherish in their new hires, according to my career counselor at school, and I’ll be able to earn the rent to pay you and Frank.”
Carol was starting to feel proud of her daughter’s forethought, and said as much before going on, “I can see that you’ve thought about this for quite some time, even before Rich proposed to you. Did he know about your intentions before this Spring Break,” Carol asked?
Dana answered with a nod, and added, “me and Rich, had no secrets from each other, long before I let him have his way with me. He seems to have been making his plans for the future as a way to shadow mine, to help us remain together. He decided to enlist in the Navy, because he knew that I would be extremely busy once law school started, and he knows I like to throw myself full-force into anything I try to accomplish. Rich was prepared to wait for me to finish law school, before we got married, I guess he was preparing for a long engagement, but I am the one, that is insisting on marrying him before he leaves for basic training. I want to introduce myself at law school, as Mrs. Dana Ivy Halke, wife of a United States Navy sailor. Other than the fact that I love Richard Michael Halke, beyond reason, and would consider it a great honor just to be his wife, period. I think that if I was already married by the time I started law school, it’ll help me concentrate more, I won’t be distracted by wedding plans, and it’ll keep down the amount of men trying to get me to go out with them.”
“Meanwhile, Rich will probably be out to sea, quite a bit, his time will be occupied with his job on the ship, and I won’t feel as though I’m neglecting him, when I’m learning to be a lawyer. I will try to pick a law school as close to whatever naval base he calls his home port, so we can see each other as much as possible,” Dana blushed, “I don’t think I’ll be able to go a couple of weeks without seeing or hearing from him, let alone a year or even a few months.”
Carol was nodding at Dana as she laid out her plans for the future, but needed to ask another question, “Those are some pretty thought out plans, Dana, and I applaud you for thinking ahead,” she nodded, then went on, “but you know Dana, not everything we plan works out in our favor. I had these same ideals when I was your age, and almost nothing I had planned worked out as I wanted them to, so are you prepared for when your dreams don’t go the way you expect them?”
Dana was silent, as she thought about what her mother was saying, she understood at this moment, that Carol was not trying to discourage her, but trying to open her eyes to the possible disappointment she could face. “It’s all a matter of priorities, mom,” Dana began, “my top priority will always be Rich, if there comes a time when I have to choose between, my law career and him, he wins, always. I want to be an attorney more than anything in the world, but not more than I want to be a Halke, not more than I want to be the mother of his children someday. What’s more, and this is not a guess, because I feel it in my bones, but Rich would do the same for me, not that he would leave the navy before his commitment was over. Even I know that could land him in prison, but if the only way for him to get a promotion was to transfer to another base or let me stay to finish a case that was important to me, he’d choose to stay at his current command and wait for his next promotional opportunity, that’s just the kind of man he is.”
Dana looked at her mom and flashed a competitive smile at her, “so yes, if nothing I had planned works out, if I can’t get a job as a paralegal, if no law schools will accept me, or if no law firms will hire me, as long as I have Rich with me, as long as he is by my side, I will be okay with that. If Rich doesn’t get accepted into the Navy, if they find something in his medical eval, or he bombs the ASVAB, if the only work he can get is as a garbage man or working for Frank, in the most demeaning task on his crew. I won’t care, I’ll make sure he knows how grateful I am just because he keeps trying, he will never feel like a failure, because I won’t let him be a failure, at least not in my eyes. I swear to God, that as long as I live, Richard Michael Halke will know he is loved.”
Dana returned to the present as she, her brother, and her mother, paused just before reaching the reverend. She turned first to Mark, who pulled her into a hug before kissing her cheek, and whispered into her ear, “you look so beautiful, big sister.”
“Thank you, little brother,” she replied, before kissing his own cheek, “for growing up into the fine man, you have become, and that any woman with half your brains would be lucky to have. Never forget that,” she ordered fiercely.
Mark merely nodded, as he stood back, and subconsciously turned his eyes toward Al, then Dana turned to her mother, and all of a sudden, a powerful feeling of gratitude filled her. She threw her arms around Carol and whispered with tears in her eyes, “thank you, thank you for always showing me what a strong woman looks like, for teaching me what it meant to be a good woman, for setting an example of what it means to be a good wife; to dad, when he was alive, and to Frank for the past seven years. But, above all, I am thankful that you married Frank, and brought these strangers into our house, who have become my family, if you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have met Rich, I wouldn’t be about to marry my best friend, my soulmate. So, from the bottom of my heart, mom, thank you so much for marrying Frank Lambert!”
Carol’s eyes had also filled with happy tears as she listened to the beautiful, young woman, who only twenty-one years ago, graced this world with her presence. She could only nod her acceptance of Dana’s gratitude, before turning to the reverend, and nodded for him to begin.
The reverend was a good friend to the Lambert-Foster household and had known Rich, since he came to his congregation a couple of years ago, so with a glad smile on his blesséd visage he began one of his favorite duties. “Dearly beloved, we are gather here today, in sight of God, to witness the joining of this man,” he pointed to Rich, then Dana, “and this woman, in the bonds of Holy Matrimony…”
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Step by Step