No Approval, but Acceptance

In the happy huggy moment a little voice peeps out from the center of the big Bailey huddle.

"Can we have an orgy now?"

The lot of you all groan. "CHLOE!"

There is laughter and shaking of heads as the group of you come apart.

Chloe looks around confused. "What? We're not? Come on. There will never be a better time!"

You three sisters continue to laugh as your mother explains. "Chloe, your grandma and grandpa aren't..."

Your grandma picks it up. "You're darn right we aren't! Listen guys, this is...god...this isn't right. Not one little bit. I am going to urge each and every one of you to stop this madness..." Her eyes go to you and El who were holding each other around the waist, then to her two daughters who still had their arms around each other's shoulders. "...but I won't...well anyways. Let's just agree to disagree for the time being. But NO, we won't be joining these...activities of yours."

"Awww." Chloe whines.

Your grandpa approaches her with a smile and puts a hand on her shoulder as he looks at her closely. He then looks to Peg. "Well, I guess that is that big mystery solved. I do wish you would have told us back then."

Peg nods, a sorrowful look on her face. "I'm sorry Dad. We were young, scared, in love. We knew you wouldn't approve."

"Of course we wouldn't have approved. How could we? But we would have accepted it. We would have loved you and tried to understand your situation. It would have at least been good to know." He says sincerely. Peg slowly nods, acknowledging the validity of what he was saying.

"Sorry Papa." She says quietly.

He then turns back and kisses Chloe on the forehead. "But that is in the past. Let's enjoy our present." Chloe smiles sweetly at him, a hint of a pink blush in her cheeks.

Your grandma looks at your mom, a stern maternal expression returning to her face. She was trying but she just couldn't let this rest quite yet. "So...this was all your idea, yes? You started all this with the kids, didn't you Helen?"

Helen looks to her sister then back to her mother. "Uh...it was sort of both of us. But, um, yeah. It was my idea. My poor girls, I didn't want them to be denied...certain things...just because of our family secret. And only once they were eighteen." She says the last part as if it made it all okay.

Your grandma is about to say more, about to lay into her youngest child, but grandpa interrupts. In a gentle voice he says. "Patty. Just...that's enough. Okay?"

You could see your grandmother desperately wanted to keep this conversation going. To go on a tirade or lecture you all. To make the case of how wrong this all was and to try to make you change your ways. Your grandpa could see in his family's loving expressions just how futile and potentially damaging that would be. He was right. It was way too late for any of that. There were no mere words that could save the Bailey's from their wicked ways now.

Your grandma sighs in defeat, she shakes her head once more as she covers her face with her hand. She stands still a while, an uncomfortable silence descends upon the crowded kitchen. Helen approaches her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault Mom. It's not your fault." Your grandma slowly nods. She looks back up and sniffles, you could see she was blinking tears from her eyes but she tries to act normal.

"Okay then. Let's enjoy our day together shall we?" She offers. Everyone nods and smiles in agreement, the sooner this topic was dropped the better for everyone. Nobody wanted to spoil this short precious time together.

Looking for a way to break the tension you walk over to the counter. "Hey, you guys want to try my brownies?"

"NO!" Chloe, Elsie, Fiona, and your mom all cry out in unison. Everyone bursts out laughing.

They'd been joking of course. You pass out your brownies, the correct brownies this time. Coffee is poured and a pleasant conversation is struck up. Plans for the day start to come together. Everyone compliments you on your baked goodies as they sip and nibble and chat.

Looking over to your grandma you smile. "I had a good teacher." Her tanned weathered face beams back at you proudly.

(Shameless Plug: We are currently building a new character for the Grimverse over on my Patreon starting today. All patrons get to vote on this one. In case anyone is interested.)