Competition

“Worried you’ll lose Eva?” Ruby taunted.

She looked smug while saying, “I told you that I’d win. You’re both going to concede in just a moment.”

I knelt in front of her and pried her legs open. Although, this time she was actually fighting me. I teased her for a moment or two before leaning in to give her a gentle kiss. “I’ll never force you, Evie.”

She relaxed as I stood and retrieved the envelope. After sitting across from them I pulled the contents from the practically disintegrated manila envelope. Everything in it, including a few bent photos, looked as if they had been handled hundreds of times if not thousands.

“I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to give this to you. I hope you’re not mad when you read it. But first, tell me if you know who the woman in the photos is.”

I picked up the photos and found them all to be of the same women. I wish I could say that I recognized her immediately but it only took a few seconds. Like I said before, my college days were not lacking in companionship. I soon realized she had lived across the hall in our dorm and for about three months, we made regular nocturnal visits to each other’s rooms. She had suddenly dropped out and after a month’s worth of text messages, I never heard from her again. I hadn’t thought of her since then because we both knew it had been a no-strings relationship.

“Where did you get this photo? She’s someone I knew in college.”

“She was a close friend of my father’s. It doesn’t matter if you had remembered her or not. I was just curious.”

Sakura interrupted, “What does any of that have to do with me being his favorite?”

Eva grinned at her. “I’m glad you asked. Dad, please read the pages I copied from my mother’s diary.”

The photocopies were next in the stack, so I started reading. They started out from her college days and jumped ahead several times. I immediately got a sinking feeling at the first entry but I couldn’t stop reading. When I finished I met Evie’s eyes.

She smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Dad. I’ve wanted to tell you for almost five years now. I didn’t because you didn’t seem to recognize Mom from the store. And she never acted like she wanted you to know. I found Mom’s diary when she had me clean out the attic just before my sixteenth birthday. She called it a ‘coming-of-age’ chore. I’m not sure if she intended for me to find it or not but that doesn’t matter.”

“So, I’m your real father?” I asked.

“Wait … What?” exclaimed Ruby, while Sakura looked stunned.

I was amazed and confused. Feeling the way I did for Evie, just got complicated. “This is … I mean how?”

Eva laughed. “I’m pretty sure you know how Dad. After you got her preggers, she moved home and started back up with her childhood boyfriend. As you’ve read, she never told him the truth because she didn’t love you, but loved him enough to let him think I was his.” She shrugged before adding, “Her ‘L’, my ‘W’.”

“Your mom is blond and isn’t pierced,” I said in half denial.

“Really. We sell black hair die on isle two and I’m surprised you never noticed the scar she has on her lip and nostril. The proof you need is in the folder.”

There were four DNA reports in it belonging to Eva, her mother, the man her mother married, and mine. There was no doubt. I was Evie’s biological father!

My mind was racing as Ruby jumped up and grabbed the papers from my hand. Sakura was close behind and she read the reports along with her. They started looking back and forth between us as Evie and I just stared into each other’s eyes.

While a hundred joys, worries, and plans tumbled through my head, Eva broke eye contact to look at her sisters and grinned. “I told you I’d win.”

“You’ve known all along! That’s cheating! How could you keep that from us!?!”

I stood before the claws started coming out. “Girls, I have a lot to discuss with Evie. Why don’t you both head back to your apartments and start packing? I’ll get a truck and we can have you moved in by tomorrow.”

They both looked peeved at their sister but pressed themselves against me for a deep kiss to hold them over for the day and started getting dressed. I gathered the papers, took Evie’s hand, and started leading her up the stairs.

Once in our room, I closed the door and looked at Evie as she sat meekly on the edge of the bed. “Are you mad?”

“Why would I be mad? I’m just a bit overwhelmed. My life has completely turned upside down in less than twenty-four hours. I do need to ask you though, why did you wait until after we made love?”

She stood, walked to me, and started drawing little circles over my heart with her finger. She bit her lip and looked coy for several moments before responding. “I’ve known you were in love with me for years. I’ve also known that you’ve been too hung up on rules to allow yourself to act on it. I knew that if you hadn’t already been inside of me when you found out, you’d never touch me out of fear of what the world might think. I did it for us.”

“Which is another thing. How can I marry you now? We won’t be able to get a license.”

She grinned and started dragging me towards the bed. “My birth certificate states that I’m the child of one Joseph Bello. They don’t check DNA when filling for a marriage license.”

“What if Ruby or Sakura let it slip, or your mother for that matter?”

“Believe it or not, my mom giggled herself into a fit at the idea. We’ve talked about it several times and she wished me ‘good hunting’. She said, and I quote, ‘He’s great in bed, but that’s all he is to me. He’s not my type, but if he’s yours, you can have him.'”

“Why didn’t she say anything when I started working with her? I feel like a shit for not recognizing her.”

“Don’t feel bad, she had completely transformed herself by then and didn’t want to stir up trouble. Especially since she was married with a child. I may have been your child but she claims to have gotten a perverse sense of pleasure watching us interact, and knowing that you didn’t realize who I was. Truth is, I think she’s been terribly cruel to both of us. But then again, if she hadn’t hidden our true relationship, I wouldn’t be trying so hard to get you naked.”

We grinned at each other as I started to strip at a deliberately slow pace. She continued while eyeing me hungrily. “As for my ‘sisters’, they would never tell. They love you too much to cause you pain, especially Sakura. You’re the air she breaths.”

“What about the DNA? How’d you get mine?”

“That was the easiest part. I just snagged one of your used straws.”

I nodded sagely as I crawled onto the bed pointing out that we’d just gotten out of it an hour before. That she should be at her apartment packing. And how I needed to head into the city to pick up some things. One of which was to get enough cash for the girls to put into their accounts so they could buy out their leases. After that, I’d rent a truck and help them all empty out their places.

Eva agreed that we should be doing those things but not until we’d made love again. I decided she was right.

It took until two in the morning for us to get the last of their things loaded up. When we got home I backed the truck into the RV bay and suggested we all shower and head to bed. Unpacking would take longer than packing but we’d have as long as we wanted. I kissed Ruby and sent her on before ordering Sakura to strip for me at the top of the stairs. She didn’t hesitate and I admired her body for a few moments before giving her a kiss goodnight as well.

As I watched her follow Ruby into the bathroom, I heard the shower come on and wondered at her lack of hesitation. I smiled to myself with images floating in my head of the two of them soaping each other. I was hoping that would be something else to explore.

After shaking myself free of the thoughts, I made my way into the master suite to find Eva leaning against the bathroom door frame. She was already naked and her coy look had me following as she turned away without a word.