The plot thickens! Your comments are appreciated!
Gwen sat in the passenger seat of the car and sulked. Rhys had promised that the trips to his parent's house and hers wouldn't take more than a day and then they'd have six days to themselves in London. The ring was lovely, but for heavens sake she didn't want to spend even one day visiting relatives they had just seen at Christmas. Rhys, however, was not to be deterred. So she gritted her teeth and hoped for the best.
The visit with Rhys' parents was remarkably drama free. From the way his mother reacted (and as she reflected on the gift she had received the week before) Gwen was certain that Rhys had already let her know that he was planning on proposing.
Her own parents were more subdued. This surprised Gwen as not a month went by without either her father or mother asking when she and Rhys were going to 'make things legal.' When her father invited Rhys into the lounge to make some celebratory drinks, Gwen confronted her mother in the kitchen.
"I thought you'd be thrilled I'm getting married. You and Tad have asked me about a hundred times when we were going to. And now all you are saying is, 'oh that's nice, let us know the date.' I don't believe you two. You haven't even said anything about my ring," Gwen said holding up her hand for inspection.
It really was a lovely ring, maybe not as big as her cousin Bethan's, but a perfectly respectable just shy of a half caret diamond. That was one good thing about Torchwood; she was so busy that they didn't spend much money on going out as couple so they had been able to save up quite a bit toward the wedding.
Her mother forced a smile on her face and held Gwen's hand. "It is a beautiful ring, and we are happy for you, it' just…"
At that moment Rhys and Gwen's father came back into the kitchen and handed Gwen and her mother a drink.
"What? Something's wrong, someone's sick, I can tell by the look on your faces," Gwen said as she glanced frantically between them.
"No, it's nothing like that," her father said taking the kitchen chair next to her and motioning Rhys to the vacant seat between Gwen and her mother.
Her mother took a deep breath. "We should have told you sooner, but first we thought you were too young, and then it didn't seem important, and now, it seems like we should have told you ages ago."
Gwen was growing more frantic by the minute. She couldn't imagine what was going on. Rhys could see that she was going to come completely unglued if her parents didn't get to the point. Diplomatically he said, "We're a family and we'll deal with whatever you have to tell us together."
Mrs. Cooper smiled and squeezed Rhys' hand. "Thank you. You really are a good man. I almost got cold feet because I was as afraid of your reaction as hers."
This had obviously been a source of friction between Gwen's parents for suddenly, her father blurted out, "For goodness sakes, Mary just tell them. It's really not that big a deal."
"Well it is to me," Mrs. Cooper said tearfully. "We should have told you long ago but we're not exactly who you think we are. We're not exactly your real Mam and Tad."
Gwen was shocked. This had to be a joke. "What do you mean? I look just like Tad. I look like Tad's mother, I've seen the pictures."
Rhys watched the color drain out of Gwen's face and felt anger building up in him.
"Mother Cooper, with all respect, will you just tell us what's going on. Your daughter, my future wife, looks like she's going to faint." It came out a bit more gruffly than he intended but his tone served to focus Mary on Gwen's welfare rather than on her own embarrassment.
"Your Tad is actually your Uncle. His sister had a baby when she was very young. She couldn't raise you on her own so we adopted you."
"Wait," Gwen said holding up her hand, "Are you telling me that Aunt Lenora is my mother?"
"Lenora is my older sister, but I actually had a younger sister, Joanna," Geraint Cooper replied. She got pregnant when she was fourteen. Your Mam and I had been married several years when this happened. She came to live with us and when you were born the plan was for her to stay here and for all of us to raise you together."
"Joanna just couldn't cope with the situation," Gwen's mother continued. "She'd get angry that I was taking care of you, but when we'd ask her to help she was unable to accomplish the simplest task. She wouldn't remember to test a bottle before giving it to you; she gave you one so hot it blistered your mouth."
Gwen's father shook his head sadly. "She always was a dreamer. She had imaginary friends as a child, not so unusual, you had them as well. But she never gave them up. She would blame them for her mistakes; they were distracting her or telling her to do things or I don't know what."
"She and I had a huge row one day. It had been building up all week. Every morning she'd say she didn't feel well. Too sick to help with the laundry, or the shopping or the cleaning, but by afternoon she'd suddenly feel much better, right when a few girls from the street would be heading into town."
Mrs. Cooper sniffed. "It was just before your first birthday. Sick or not, I left you in her care for a few hours so I could get some shopping done for a little party we were going to have. My parents had seen you, but your Tad's parents hadn't. They were always afraid that people from their village would find out."
"Anyway, I came back from shopping and you were screaming and Joanna no where to be found. You'd messed your nappy and she hadn't changed you. She left you like that; it had to have been for at least an hour. After I changed you and got you calmed down, I looked for her and found her in the garden dancing. And when I scolded her for ignoring you, she said it didn't matter that she was going away with her friends and she'd never come back."
"Two days later, she was gone." Geraint continued. "We couldn't find a trace of her. She didn't go back to Swansea and there wasn't a way to really look for her. Today things are different, but back then she could have gone to London or some such place and it might as well have been the moon. We put out inquiries, and recently we actually looked on the Internet but we couldn't find anyone named Joanna Cooper that would have fit her description. If my folks ever heard from her, they never told us."
Gwen's mother began to cry. "We should have told you, but we were afraid you wouldn't understand or you'd want to look for her, and maybe we were selfish, but Joanna was so strange and we didn't know if she'd take you away or turn you against us, or what might happen."
Gwen looked at her parents. Her father looked like he had aged just sitting at the table. And her mother, well her aunt, no her Mam, she thought resolutely, was absolutely distraught. For the first time in her very much doted on life, she realized what keeping this secret had cost her parents. And how much they had loved her and wanted to protect her.
"So you're saying that you are not my biological parents but my aunt and uncle."
Her parent's nodded.
"You're wrong," she told them. "You are my parents, my only parents and I would never give you up for anyone else. Wherever Joanna is, if she's even alive, it has nothing to do with me. I can't believe you were worried about telling me. Though it does maybe explain why I never had any brothers or sisters."
"Never could manage to have one of our own…"
"I am your own," Gwen declared.
"You know what I mean," her mother said. "I was so afraid I'd find you dancing in the garden or talking to yourself that I have to admit I was relieved when Joanna disappeared. I always meant to tell you, and I didn't want you to start your new life with Rhys without you knowing."
"Well Rhys," Mr. Cooper said as he got up to freshen his drink, "still want to marry my daughter?"
Rhys didn't miss a beat. "I'm glad you told Gwen. You know everyone has something in their family that's embarrassing," he continued. "Gwen's got a co-worker who has had a tragic family life."
"You mean Ianto, yeah?" Gwen asked. "You won't believe it but his father was an alcoholic who drank himself to death, and then his mother went mad, or was it the mother went mad first… Anyway, he lost his parents when he was a pre-teen and then was raised by his older sister but now they don't speak because he's, well, he's gay sort of."
"No you mean he turned gay after his girlfriend was killed in that terrorist attack at Canary Wharf a few years back," Rhys interjected.
"I don't think you can turn gay, can you? And he took a girl home with him at New Year's didn't he?" Gwen replied.
Gwen's mother cleared her throat. "I think we should stop right here. It sounds like the poor man's had a very traumatic life. And this was the type of gossip that we were afraid of for all these years."
Rhys nodded. "You're right. It's human nature to gossip, but not the best part of us."
"I'm ready for another drink," Gwen said to change the subject.
"You'll get no argument from me on that suggestion," Mary Cooper said holding up her glass.
Rhys was a bit surprised that Gwen didn't mention the startling revelation her mother made during the rest of their trip. He only raised the issue once as they got ready for bed after a chilly night out at the London Eye. "Think your, uh, birth mother's alive?" he asked as they snuggled under the covers.
"I have no idea whether my Aunt Joanna is alive or dead. And for once, I'm going to leave things alone. What if she is alive? She ran off and left me. What if she's dead? How would my father feel if something awful happened to her? Promise me Rhys, that you'll never say anything to my friends and especially not your Mam."
Rhys almost laughed at Gwen's concern but the look on her face brought him up short. "You promise me Rhys Williams or you'll regret it," she said as she put her ice cold feet on him.
"Oi, what is this, some type of special ops torture technique."
"Promise me," she insisted.
"Okay, I promise. Now get your feet off of me."
"I was sort of hoping you might help me warm up," she said smiling.
"Now that's more like it," Rhys said embracing Gwen and kissing her breathless.