guelbebek
Sweet Liz
L-J-L 76
confusedfool
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FSU/MSW-94
VeronicB
roswellfan4
dark_skater
begonia9508
orphyfets
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Earth2Mama
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Alien614
Part 50
Dianne Evans was nervous as she sat in her living room with Nancy Parker waiting for Max and Liz to arrive.
Max had told her earlier that he and Liz wanted to speak to her about something and she had been concerned and anxious ever since.
“Do you know what this is about?” she asked Nancy.
Nancy hesitated a moment before nodding. Over the years Dianne Evans had become Nancy’s dearest and best friend and she hoped that it wouldn’t be ruined by the news Liz and Max would deliver her today.
Nancy knew how much Dianne loved her son, and how fiercely protective she was of her family. If she thought that Liz was threatening her position in her son’s life at all Nancy knew that her reaction would be bad.
“I can’t tell you, Di,” she sighed. “Just wait for the kids, they will be here in a minute.” she assured her when she was about to object.
Max and Liz chose that moment to walk though the front door.
Max surveyed the room and noticed that his father was absent and he wasn’t surprised. He knew that his father and Jeff would both have to be told, he just hoped that they would be ok with it.
“Max, what did you want to talk to me about?” Dianne asked as Max took a seat across from her and Liz next to him.
Dianne watched as Max shifted on the lounge until he was closer to Liz. Their thighs were pressed up against each other as their hands came to rest together in the middle, tightly clasped.
Dianne licked her suddenly dry lips before she looked up from their hands to their faces. “What’s going on?” she asked again.
“Liz and I wanted to talk to you,” Max started. “For some time now we’ve had very strong feelings for each other,” he explained.
Dianne looked to Nancy to confirm her worst fears were coming true. The look on her friends face showed that she knew about this and although she was putting on a brave front, felt similar to her.
“We decided a few months ago to give things a go,” he told her then. “So I guess what I am trying to tell you is that Liz and I are a couple,” he breathed out.
“How? Why?” she spluttered.
“Well because we love each other,” Max said. “It’s not something we planned on happening or feeling but it feels right and we’re both very happy. We hope that you’ll be able to be happy for us too,” he replied.
“How long has this been going on?” she asked.
Dianne was confused. Although she and Nancy had often speculated on the close bond Max and Liz shared, and their worries that it might develop to something more but Dianne hadn’t seen this coming. It was only last Christmas that Max had brought home his first official girlfriend and although she knew Tess didn’t really fit in with the others she was a nice, attractive girl. She certainly wasn’t saying that Liz wasn’t but the fact remained that Liz was Serena’s twin and Max was identical to the man that Liz had grown up with as a brother.
“A couple of months,” Max admitted. “We decided not to tell you until after Isabel’s wedding.”
“It’s been longer than that though, hasn’t it?” Nancy asked then. It had been on her mind since their conversation that morning. All the signs had been there she had just chose to ignore them.
Liz nodded at her mother, an apology in her eyes for the lie.
“Since high school?” Nancy questioned praying that they would say no.
Once again Liz nodded.
“Wow,” Nancy sighed.
Had she really been that caught up in her own life and getting to know her new found daughter that she had failed to pay attention to her other daughter, to have really missed all the signs.
“We didn’t want you to know,” Liz spoke up.
“We didn’t think you would agree with us,” Max added.
“Is this serious?” Dianne asked then.
Max nodded. “Yes. We’re moving to Las Cruces after the summer together.”
It had only been decided on hours earlier. Liz would take the job offered to her at UNM and Max would hopefully work with his father.
“You decided?” Nancy asked.
“Yeah, this afternoon,” Liz said.
“Oh, honey, I’m so glad you’re not going too far away,” Nancy smiled.
Liz felt her heart swell at the happy look on her mothers face. “Me too.”
“So you’re moving in together?” Nancy asked.
“Yes, that’s the plan,” Max told her.
Dianne went quiet after that. Max could see that she was trying to absorb the information she had been given and he thought it might be a good sign that she hadn’t reacted one way or the other yet. At least she was considering what they had to say rather than flying off the handle.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered eventually. She turned to Nancy then. “You knew about this?” she asked.
Nancy nodded. “I found out the day before Isabel’s wedding and I agreed to not make a big deal out of it until afterwards. We spoke this morning.”
“And you’re ok with this?” Dianne asked her.
“I wouldn’t say that exactly,” Nancy said. “This morning I had a very hard time accepting the fact that they could have feelings for each other under the circumstances but I’ve had some time to think about it now.”
“And now that you’ve had some time to think about it?” Liz asked.
“I love you, Liz,” Nancy told her. “You’re my baby, my angel and although I’m having a hard time understanding your relationship with Max at the moment I do know that I don’t want to lose you.”
Liz felt tears spring to her eyes. “Thank you, Mummy,” she whispered. “I don’t want to lose you either.” She moved out of her seat then and into her mother’s arm. Mother and daughter hugged fiercely.
“Mum, are you ok?” Max asked concerned.
“You love her?” Dianne asked.
“With all my heart,” Max smiled.
Dianne nodded. That was all she had ever wanted for her children. To love and to be loved in return.
“I guess I can see why you fell in love with her,” Dianne agreed. Liz was a wonderful girl, beautiful, smart and she made you feel so special.
“You know that people will find it weird,” she told Max.
“We know that, Dianne,” Liz spoke up, drying her eyes as she pulled back from her mother. “But we also know that being apart from each other is far worse than what anyone else could say about us,” she told her.
Dianne nodded understanding what Liz meant. It was obvious there was more to their story then they were willing to say, and she wouldn’t push them about it. It was most likely personal and probably even heart breaking.
“Ok,” she shrugged.
“Ok?” Max asked shocked. “That’s all you’re going to say?”
Dianne smiled at her son’s shocked face. “I just want you to be happy, Max,” she told him. “If Liz makes you happy then that’s ok in my books,” she told him.
“Oh God, thank you mum,” he cried moving out of his seat to hug him.
“It’s easier for me to understand, Max,” Dianne whispered as she hugged him. “Liz and Serena are very different in looks and personality so it’s not as strange but it’s different for the Parkers, so be patient.”
Max nodded and smiled his thanks. She was right. Liz and Serena were worlds apart. They were fraternal twins and whilst Liz looked like Jeff Parker, Serena resembled Nancy. Max knew that it sometimes made her jealous how much her mother loved Serena. Liz thought it was because she was more like her but in truth Nancy was just trying to get to know her daughter. He was glad that their relationship might help bring them closer rather than push them away, which he had thought would be the case after this morning.
“You still have to tell your fathers,” Nancy pointed out.
Max gulped. “You can’t tell them for us?” he asked.
Nancy laughed at the frightened look on Max’s face. “Don’t worry, Max. Jeff doesn’t have a gun,” she told him.
Max smiled in relief but it was shorted lived. “But he does have a sturdy shovel.”
Liz and Dianne couldn’t hold in their giggles at Max’s reaction. Liz moved towards her boyfriend then and wrapped her arms around him in comfort. “Don’t worry honey. I won’t let him hurt you,” she assured him.
“Selling this whole living together thing won’t be as easy with Jeff though,” Dianne pointed out.
They both nodded. “We understand that, but we’re adults and we’ll be living our own life.”
Nancy and Dianne shared a sad smile at the reminder of their children being all grown up.
Liz and Max excused themselves after that to go and celebrate leaving Nancy and Dianne alone.
“I think I need a stiff drink,” Dianne said when they were gone.
She fixed herself and Nancy a glass of vodka before sitting back down. “That wasn’t what I expected,” she admitted.
“I know. Imagine how I felt catching him in her room the other morning.”
Dianne’s eyes went wide. “What?”
“Yeah,” Nancy sighed. “The worst part is that I should have seen it coming. The signs were there. They never treated each other as siblings, I could see that every time they were together I just chose to turn a blind eye to it.”
“Jeff isn’t going to be happy,” Dianne pointed out. She knew Phillip would probably come to the same conclusion she had.
“Believe me I know,” Nancy agreed. “I’m just hoping I can warm him up to be a little more receptive.”
“Let’s face it, Nan, they’re almost 23 years old. Its not like we could stop them even if we wanted to.”
“True,” she agreed. “Not like if they were 17.”
“Would we have then?” she asked curiously.
“If they had come to us at 17 and told us they wanted to be together would we have tried to stop them? I really don’t know.”
“Yes,” Nancy said swiftly. “I would never have let something develop between them at that age. They were too young and hormonal.”
“And now? Do you think they’re any less hormonal?” Dianne joked.
“No,” Nancy agreed with a laugh. “But at least now I can trust that they do really love each other. If they’ve been able to spend the past four years apart at different colleges and still decide at the end of it that they want to be together then I guess I have to believe that they truly do. That they’re old enough to make that decision.”
Dianne smiled. “You’re right. Now we just have to help them convince our husbands of the same thing.”
