A Household Divided

It had been around twenty years since your first date with Maisie, the one that had ended with you telling her unequivocally that you were in love with her and two of you sharing the first kiss that had felt legitimate and not influenced by the curse. You did get to a second date, then a third and a fourth and, on the fifth, when you once again told Maisie you loved her, she finally said it back. Just a few months later, when you asked her to marry you, she said yes.

Your relationship with Maisie had gone on to comfortably beat her previous personal best of six weeks, and you were still happily together now, and still living in in Chapel Hill, the only place either of you had ever called home. The curse has played much less of a prominent role in your relationship than might have been expected. Unlike Maisie's father you do use it from time to time, though always consensually, responsibly and primarily to continue to treat and spoil the woman you love. In fact, the place it most typically comes into play is in the bedroom, where Maisie still likes to call you Master sometimes.

But you have kept your wife's secret well. Holly and Maisie's three cousins have all been long married and none of their husbands know about their still inactive curses. You could certainly understand and respect their reasons for not divulging that information, but it is a constant source of pride that Maisie had trusted you enough to share a secret that none of her relatives felt confident telling even the men that they loved, despite the fact you had only been friends with her at the time. The curse has recently, however. raised its ugly head as something you will need to confront again.

You have two daughters with Maisie. She had always been adamant that she wanted two kids and equally certain that they would both be girls. The older of the two, Jessie, reminds you an awful lot of her mother, both in appearance and personality, while her younger sister Abby is more like you. They were both told about the curse on the day after their respective thirteenth birthdays. That was the age you and Maisie had agreed they would be mature enough to be made aware of their situation without becoming terrified of it. The problem was, Jessie was now only a week away from her eighteenth birthday, with Abby less than two years behind her, and now it was you who was terrified. So you really weren't prepared for the bombshell Maisie decided to casually drop on you as you were trying to eat your breakfast that morning.

"So, I was speaking to Jessie last night and, once her eighteenth birthday party is out of the way, she would like to tell Craig about her curse. I've told her that she has my blessing, but that she should speak to you first for your view, especially as you were put in that position yourself in the past. But I think you should give her your blessing too"

What? No fucking way! Craig is Jessie's "platonic" male friend who is obviously besotted with her. You can smell your own. And sure, he is a nice enough kid. But do you trust him enough to hand over complete and total control of your beloved eldest daughter? Fuck no!

"Mais, I know what you are going to say, that telling me worked out nicely for you. But what if it goes the way it usually does? Nobody has ever found out about Holly or your cousins. There's just no need to take that risk"

"Because, I promise you, I know my daughter and she is going to tell him anyway. This way she can do it in front of us in a controlled environment where he won't get any ideas to start testing it out. And then, we kill him"

"What?"

"I'm kidding, obviously" Maisie rolls her eyes "But having us there ought to spook him enough not to do anything impulsive, and he's a decent kid. She has always had atrocious taste in boyfriends, and if she doesn't tell Craig she will end up telling one of them, because she will think she's in love with them that week. This is the safest option"

"And what if Craig lets it slip to anyone else?"

This is another huge concern for you. Abby doesn't have a Craig equivalent, and if the secret is out there she could be in real trouble in a couple of years time. On top of that, Holly has a seventeen year old daughter, Melanie has three girls and Kylie two, all within five years of their eighteenth birthday. Only Ellie decided she didn't want to being a daughter into the world carrying the curse. There was a colossal amount of trust being placed on a nice enough eighteen year old kid here.

"I think we just go in hard on Jess and make her understand in no uncertain terms that telling anyone would be a disastrous idea" you argue back "I'm quite prepared to scare the shit out of her if we need to. We could even get Carly to talk about what happened to her, or one of the cousins at least"

"I'm telling you, that won't work with Jess" Maisie insists "And the more you scare her, the more determined she will be to tell someone she trusts so she doesn't end up at the mercy of someone she doesn't"

For the first time in years you actually feel tempted to use a non consensual command on your wife to get her to change her mind on this. You had vowed you never would, but this is so serious it almost seems justifiable. But instead, you decide to go a different route.

"We need to have a proper discussion about this as a family, with Abby involved too" you suggest, securing yourself a natural ally for the upcoming debate "This effects her just as much"

"Okay, if it makes you feel any better" Maisie agrees "But I'm telling you, this is nobodies decision but Jessie's and there is no way any of us can change her mind once she has made it up"