Piper Plus

***

The office was in an unremarkable grey building on an industrial estate, anonymous in a host of other unremarkable grey buildings.

Rosemary checked the address again and tried to calm her racing heart. It took courage to seek out a dangerous predator and she wondered whether she had an adequate supply.

Reminding herself that this was for a man whose good opinion she valued over all others, she pressed on.

A corner of her mind whispered that anything that lifted her in his wife’s good graces might… might what? This subject alone had the power to scramble her thoughts. She forced herself to concentrate as she reversed the Boxster into the parking space.

Standing outside the building, she tugged at her jacket and hoped that her knees wouldn’t tremble. Pressing the intercom, she straightened her shoulders; the die was cast.

A tinny voice sounded. “What?”

“My name’s Rosemary Ogilvie. I’d like to speak to Mr Desai.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No, but we’re related. It won’t take long, I promise. I just need to ask him something.”

There was a brief burst of white noise from the tiny speaker which she thought might be laughter.

“Wait there.”

A minute or two crawled by and then there was a metallic clunk as the lock moved. Tentatively she opened the door and walked inside. Spare grey walls and white tiles on the floor with absolutely nothing to indicate who might work here or what their business might be.

She advanced to the next door only for it to be opened by Ankit Desai himself.

“Cousin! What an unexpected pleasure! You should have ‘phoned, we could have had lunch somewhere much nicer than this place. How did you find the address by the way?”

“I only need a minute of your time, Uncle, if you can spare it?”

“Of course, of course. Come through, we’ll go to my office.”

The door was a portal to another dimension. On the other side was a room of considerable size, decorated as a nightclub, with a brightly lit bar on the far wall. Two snooker tables, a darkened stage and a number of chairs and tables at which lounged half a dozen dangerous looking young men desultorily playing cards.

Two of them inspected her and Rosemary swallowed. She needed to do what she’d come to do, and then get out of here as quickly as possible.

They made for a door to one side of the bar where a bored looking young woman was polishing glasses. Inside was a room with the trappings of a tycoon. A vast, highly polished, wooden desk, a chair more like a throne, paintings in gilt frames on the wall. They took their places on opposite sides of the desk.

“Uncle?” she said, carefully.

Uncle being a term of respect and although he did look like a twinkly eyed dark-skinned Santa Claus, he would chew her up and spit her out without pause for thought. She felt like she was petitioning a djinn.

“Does the name George Wallington mean anything to you?”

His eyes narrowed. “And what if it did, cousin?”

“A friend of mine is in trouble, and I think Mr Wallington might be the cause of it.”

“Good heavens,” he chuckled avuncularly. “The Ice Queen cares for someone. When did this miraculous event take place?”

“He helped me once and I need to return the favour,” she said, trying to keep her expression and her posture as neutral as possible.

“Jimmy” Ankit Desai’s face darkened. “A favour you say? To be repaid, yah? I think the information you’re after is also a favour! What might I ask in repayment when the time comes?”

He wasn’t interested in money. If she was not very careful, she would end up being Ankit’s useful puppet.

“I have some information to trade.”

“Do you now! Come then, let’s hear it.”

He waved a hand dismissively as if there could be nothing that she could tell him that would be worth anything at all.

Time for a taster.

“Did you know that Noah has a new car?”

Noah was street muscle, a lesser operator in Uncle’s set up.

He snorted. “What of it? Boys buy cars all the time.”

“It’s a Bentley convertible.”

“They’re not that expensive,” he replied, but hot hatches were the preference for Noah’s crew, and more importantly, within their price bracket. The casual note in his voice had disappeared.

“It is when it comes from the dealership in Hatfield. 125 miles on the clock.”

There was a pause. “Go on.”

“How much of George Wallington do I have?”

“Pas un sou,” he replied, reminding her that he might be a thug, but he was educated and clever.

“How about Kenny?”

Kenny was a different kettle of fish. One of Ankit’s lieutenants.

Uncle was silent for a moment.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, cousin.”

She took a deep breath. “Kenny has been acquiring properties in Kensington and Richmond.”

She took another. “And he’s been talking to the Rossis.”

There was a crash as the objects on the desk were swept to the floor. Uncle did not look like a twinkly eyed Santa Claus now. Rosemary sat very still as the djinn advanced towards her.

He stopped beside her, and she held her breath.

“George Wallington is a bad gambler. He owes me four hundred and twenty thousand pounds.”

Unable to control herself, Rosemary gasped. The djinn moved on.

Pulling herself together she turned and called after his retreating back, “Uncle! We’re straight, yeah?”

He paused and without turning round, said, “If your intelligence is correct, we’re straight. If not, I recommend that you take the first available flight and hope I never find you.”

The door slammed behind him, and Rosemary released a breath she didn’t realise she was holding. When she ventured to open the door, the club was empty except for the barmaid.

“You’ve stirred ’em up good and proper,” she observed laconically.

***

July

Marjorie Barrett was sitting at the Piper’s kitchen table sipping from a mug of tea.

“So, there have been developments?”

“Yes. Rosie has discovered that one of David’s colleagues has a gambling problem.”

Rosie? When did she start calling her Rosie? Jen frowned.

Marjorie clapped her hands. “Good girl!”

Jen grinned. “I think that’s the first positive thing I’ve heard you say about her.”

“She’s too sly, Jennifer. You watch your step with that woman.”

“She had a difficult childhood. I think a lot of the way she behaves is down to that.”

Jen considered telling Marjorie of Rosie’s unusual marriage but decided that was not her business.

“That’s as maybe,” Marjorie said firmly. “A leopard can’t change its spots!”

“Why are you so against her, Marjorie?”

“She hurt David!” she said fiercely. Her vehemence surprised both of them.

Jen chose her next words carefully.

“Did I nearly… lose… David, to you?”

Marjorie looked wistful.

“It is true that I was… am inordinately fond of David and was very pleased to be a help to him. But his allegiance was always to you; he just needed to be reminded of it. He is rather passive.”

Jen nodded ruefully and Marjorie leaned forward conspiratorially.

“My friends call me ‘Em’.”

Jen smiled. “Do you count me as a friend, then?”

“Well initially, David and I were partners in crime, quite literally in some ways.”

Seeing Jen’s expression, Em winced but bore on.

“But he holds you in such high esteem that I hoped that you and he would reach some rapprochement. If that happened then maybe I would be able, in some small way, to carry on being part of his life. And if that happened then maybe we could be friends.”

“He spoke highly of me?”

“When he spoke of you, he seemed hopeless that he could ever regain your affections.”

“I was beyond angry with him,” Jen admitted. “I was in such a low place that his betrayal was an awful blow. One more thing that I couldn’t do right.”

Em reached out and put her hand on Jen’s arm. “It must have been terrible.”

“It was worse. It allowed me to make another piece of my armour. ‘The wronged wife!'”

Jen struck a dramatic pose, the back of her wrist on her forehead. “See how she suffers!”

She looked away, remembering the darkness in which she had been mired.

“I took that as my virtue.”

Then her face changed, and she snorted, “It wasn’t until he came to see me that there started to be a difference. I didn’t know it at the time but suddenly there he was, all fucking dapper and handsome and making light of it all!”

This was uttered with considerable heat, and she looked at Em, a little embarrassed.

Em laughed. “He does brush up well. You can thank Jane for that. And he is mercurial, I grant you.”

“Sometimes it seems that he takes nothing seriously!” Jen said, shaking her head and waving her hands in the air. “And then he turns the tables and is all profound.”

“Which is why we love him.”

The words slipped out before she had a chance to think and Em clapped her hand to her mouth, mortified. She looked at Jen, apprehensively.

Jen had a crooked smile on her face.

“I’d worked that out. You wouldn’t have done all that you have if you didn’t care for him. When did he ask you to stop paying him?”

Em stared at her, how on Earth had she known? She looked down at her hands.

“I don’t remember exactly, such a lot happened in such a short space of time. It must have been around…”

She tailed off and looked up at Jen. “Does it matter when?”

“I saw how he looked at you at that reception in London. And how you looked at him. Who would have thought he could be gallant? But there he was on my arm, and that was your doing.”

Em blushed. “You needed him more than I did.”

Jen laid her fingers on Em’s wrist.

“Actually, it was Rosie who put me right on the subject,” she said, lightly.

“Rosemary!” Em said in surprise.

“She said, ‘Whose arm are you holding? And who put your hand there?’ and suddenly it all made sense.”

“Well, well. Who would have thought the Ice Queen had a heart after all?”

Jen laughed. “She’s a puzzle alright.” And a lot more besides, she thought to herself.

“I wouldn’t have thought she cared for anything or anyone. I still don’t understand what makes her tick,” Em said, thoughtfully.

And since when did Jen start calling her Rosie?

***

August

Finally, she could bear it no longer and resolved to tell her husband.

“I kissed her, David,” she said, staring at her lap.

He looked round from where he was chopping vegetables.

“Who?”

“Rosemary.”

He snorted. “And?”

For a moment, what he had said didn’t penetrate, and then her head came up.

“What did you say?”

“What’s the big deal?”

“No, no, you misunderstand, I kissed her. Me!”

“Jen, my darling, after recent events, I’m a little less black and white about these things.”

“I’m your wife!”

David came to sit beside her and take her hands.

“Jen, we love each other, yes?”

She stared into his face.

“Yes?” he repeated, smiling slightly.

“Yes,” she said.

“Sure about that?”

“Yes, I love you David. I nearly lost you and I’m never going to let that happen again.”

Jen felt like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest.

“Well then, I don’t think you really need my forgiveness. I discovered quite a lot about myself that year. Possibly it’s your turn to do some discovering. Just don’t allow her to introduce you to Alice.”

He grinned.

Jen was speechless. Was he giving her permission to have an affair? With another woman!

Then another thought occurred to her, he had become more through his adventures. Was this what he was now suggesting she do? She shivered.

***

September

Jen had come to the Grange with a degree of apprehension. David had, as usual, thrown all the cards in the air. Then she was at a loss as to how to proceed.

Having tried a hundred conversational gambits in her head, they all seemed to boil down to, ‘yeah, okay, let’s do it.’

Good Catholic girls didn’t, although she could remember girls from the Convent school that most definitely did.

Then Rosemary had rung asking them to come over. Work meant that David couldn’t so here she was letting herself in through the side door, there being no answer to the front.

There was a cleaner in the small hall, and she’d pointed to the study as being the most likely location of ‘Lady Rosemary.’ Jen smiled at this, Lady Rosemary indeed!

She opened the study door to find Rosemary sitting in the bay window. She was about to announce herself when she noticed that Rosemary’s shoulders were shaking.

Initially mistaking it for laughter she advanced into the room expecting to learn of some joke, although Rosemary was not prone to great good humour, instead being partial to a sort of sly knowingness.

As she neared the sofa, she became aware that far from laughing, Rosemary was sobbing. Her footsteps hastened and she put her hand on Rosemary’s shoulder and the other woman clutched it. Rounding the sofa, Jen sat and automatically put her arm round her companion.

She was slightly startled when Rosemary buried her face in Jen’s shoulder, but she gathered her into a hug and stroked the back of her hair while she waited for her to calm down.

Eventually Rosemary sat up and brought a tissue to her reddened eyes.

“I’ve ruined your blouse.”

“Never mind that,” said Jen, “what’s wrong?”

“My father; he died,” she stated, flatly.

“Oh Rosemary, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m glad he’s dead.”

Jen was shocked but Rosemary went on, “He had Alzheimer’s. The last few times I went to see him he didn’t even know who I was. I wanted him to be spared but he just kept on living.”

Jen was appalled and after a moment gave her another, much tighter hug. Rosemary was contemptuous of pity, but unused to sympathy, and started to cry again more softly.

A minute or two later she relaxed, and they parted, still with their arms around each other. Their faces were very close, and slowly, hesitantly, they closed the gap and their lips met.

Rosemary’s heart leapt in her chest, and she jerked back.

Jen was similarly startled, brought back to herself by Rosemary’s reaction.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Rosemary cried, wanting to stay in Jen’s good graces and terrified that her actions might be construed as a cheap seduction.

Jen stared at her; Rosemary never apologised. It dawned on her that Rosemary was adrift.

And there was the problem of that kiss. If problem it was.

She smiled a small smile.

“No harm done.”

When Rosemary still looked at her worriedly, she gathered up her courage and said, “I told David about the other day.”

Rosemary put her head in her hands and groaned. It was not a good sound.

Jen put her hand on the other’s. “He was unconcerned. Annoyingly so.”

Rosemary, to her own great consternation, smiled. In this state she might say or do anything.

“That’s David.”

Jen inclined her head in agreement. “He said he learned a lot about agency last year.”

Agency and the use of it was Rosemary’s speciality. She fretted but Jen was speaking.

“I think what he was getting at was that we’re all captains of our own ship. Ultimately, we decide the destination, the places we will visit, the places we’ll drop anchor. The scenery will change but it’s still us at the helm.”

She looked up at the books lining the shelves. Somewhere in there, presumably, was advice for the young at heart.

“I love David, more now than I ever thought possible. I can’t imagine life without him or the children but there are other places I want to explore as well.”

“I don’t understand,” Rosemary said, unsure as to the exact point Jen was making.

“If you can rein in that controlling instinct of yours then maybe we could do some exploring together,” Jen said steadily.

“And David would know!”

“Of course. If he trusts me, then I’m not going to hide it.”

Rosemary was confounded. Recent events had completely upended her. Abashed and humbled, she looked up at Jen.

“I think I need to be alone for a bit. Can I come and see you later?”

Jen smiled and squeezed her hand. Then she left the other woman to her thoughts.

Outside the study door Jen stopped and felt slightly giddy at the realisation of what she had just set in motion.

***

At Cross Partners, there were developments.

David sat down at the table with the seniors.

“I have some information that might be relevant.”

Charles raised an eyebrow. “May one enquire how you came by this information?”

David struggled for a moment, then decided that an honest answer would create more problems than it solved.

“Can it wait until I’ve told you what I’ve found out?”

Max and Derek looked at one another, then Derek nodded. “Let’s hear it.”

“George Wallington has a gambling problem.”

Derek chuckled avuncularly. “Lots of us like a flutter, David.”

“George is on the hook for nearly half a million pounds.”

There were gasps. Max had gone pale.

“George used to work for IBM. Our middleware is made by IBM. If George knows a few tricks with that then he could have set this up without leaving his fingerprints on the surface,” he said.

“If, if, if,” Derek countered. “The Wallingtons are old friends of mine. I’ve known George since he was a lad. He wouldn’t do anything like this.”

David and Charles exchanged glances.

Max glared at Derek. “Five hundred grand is a hell of a lot of incentive, Derek!”

There was silence for a few moments then David said, carefully, “George doesn’t owe the money to a casino; he owes it to a gangster.”

It was Derek’s turn to go pale.

David continued. “And, if George has the chops to do this, why is he working as an analyst?”

Max turned on Derek. “You gave him a job, Derek! We didn’t particularly need another body at the time. Were you sheltering another waif and stray?”

Max’s voice had risen until he was nearly shouting. Derek was looking uncomfortable.

“Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse us,” Charles said, and he and David let themselves out. As the door closed, the row inside intensified.

Charles turned to David. “The question of how you came by this information is still unanswered, Mr Piper.”

David winced. “Can it wait until the partners have come to a decision? If Derek decides to protect George, then it’s irrelevant, if not to George, then probably to me. If they toss him overboard then I’ll certainly tell you most of what I know.”

“Most?”

“There was a degree of personal risk in obtaining the information.”

Charles was silent for a moment.

“Well played, Mr Piper.”

With that he turned and walked away.

***

A week later, David was summoned to another meeting with the seniors.

“So, it’s sorted then?” David asked as he once again sat across the table from the senior partners.

Max leaned back in his chair.

“Yes. Once we knew the circumstances and the parties involved it turned out to be quite simple. The police aren’t interested because the burden of proof is insufficient, as far they’re concerned, so it’s up to us how we manage it.”

Derek looked at Charles and Charles inclined his head fractionally.

“The thing is, David, we can hire and fire pretty much as we please. George doesn’t know that we know and as you seem to have been his principal target, Edgar being insurance in case he missed, we wondered if you would like to accompany Charles to deliver the news.”

David thought for a moment and denied himself the pleasure of a smile.

“I’d be delighted,” he said, coolly.

Charles stood. “Well then, Mr Piper, I think we will find George at his club.”

***

They stopped outside George’s club; a pair of converted regency townhouses not far from the British Museum, Charles looked at David.

“This is not your usual milieu, Mr Piper. How do you feel?”

“I’m pretty bloody angry if you must know.”

“Understandably so. I trust you will behave appropriately?”

“I don’t settle things the Edgar Fellowes way.”

The impeccable eyebrow quirked. “Indeed. Then I believe we are on our mettle.”

One of the staff showed them through to the reading room where they spied him by the window, equipped with the Times and smoking a slim cigar.

Wending their way across the room, they arrived at the window seat and George looked up at them.

“Charles! I can understand you being here but isn’t this a bit out of your league, Piper?”

David looked about at the trappings. “Not my kind of thing.”

George blew smoke at him. “No, no, of course not. Pull up a pew, why don’t you?”

“We’re not staying, Mr Wallington. This will only take a few moments,” Charles murmured. “You might prefer to have some privacy.”

“So formal, Charles! Whatever is the matter?”

“We have learned that you sold the data and analysis of the Bettancourt venture to Eagle Systems and Ava Cartwell.”

David had to hand it to George, he didn’t bat an eyelid. He leaned back in his chair and inspected his nails. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

His insouciance grated on David. The upper-class kryptonite, the effortless ability to fail upwards. In this exchange he’d ignored David. In George’s world, David wasn’t even a player, just a piece to be moved around. Time to disabuse him of that notion.

“I hear you owe a considerable sum of money to Mr Desai. Dangerous company, George, he’s not the forgiving type.”

George went from blasé to sheet white in zero seconds. “How the devil do you know about that?”

“Oh George,” drawled Charles. “How grubby.”

If anything, George lost even more colour. David had demolished his defences in twenty words.

He looked in panic at his senior. “Charles! I… I don’t know what to say!”

“I think as little as possible would be prudent. And George? Don’t come back to the office.”

They turned and walked away from the doomed George Wallington.

“Jimmy Desai will kill George, Charles.”

“On first name terms with underworld figures of note? I’m not sure there’s much more you could do to surprise me, Mr Piper. George will as usual be rescued by his long-suffering father, although the size of the ransom might give him pause for concern.”

Outside the club, Charles Stanforth stopped and turned to face David.

“Your conduct throughout this affair has been exemplary, David.”

He was shocked, Charles never addressed him as anything other than ‘Mr Piper.’

Charles continued, “You have demonstrated admirable versatility under pressure and protected the name of the firm. Your talents are considerable, and I shall be recommending your advancement to Derek.”

He put out his hand and after a moment’s hesitation, David took it. They shook hands as if the matter was settled. David looked down at their clasped hands and then up at Charles. Charles inclined his head and his mouth quirked up infinitesimally at one side.

“Good day, Mr Piper.”

***

New beginnings

October

David was away for the night and Jen thought it was a good opportunity to entertain Rosemary while they did some… exploring.

She’d set a fire and lit candles round the room. There was a bottle of good red wine airing on the table along with two glasses. Something light was playing on the stereo, and it was all warm and cosy and hopefully welcoming.

The children were in bed and asleep. They were pretty reliable these days, wearing themselves out at school.

There was a discreet knock at the door and Jen’s heart was suddenly all aflutter. She composed herself before opening it to find Rosemary a couple of steps off, gesturing at her sports car.

“Is it okay there overnight?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty quiet here.”

Rosemary turned and came to stand on the threshold, uncharacteristically tentative.

“You’re sure this is okay?”

“Yes,” said Jen, firmly. “Come in.”

A grin flashed across Rosemary’s face, and she passed quickly into the house. Jen shut the front door and they stood looking at each other across the hall.

Jen saw a woman slightly shorter than herself, with tanned skin and straight black hair tied back in a ponytail. Under a smart black jacket, a collarless white shirt accentuated her tan, and tight skinny jeans showed off her legs.

Her gaze came back to Rosemary’s face with its jet-black eyes. Jen saw them as mysterious, concealing their owner’s intentions.

Rosemary saw a slim pale-skinned woman with long dark wavy hair loose across her shoulders, dressed in a dark blue pleated skirt and a cream pussy bow blouse. Her oval face was accentuated by high cheek bones, long eyelashes framing dark brown eyes, and pale lipstick.

Jen broke the silence by asking, “Please?” and indicated the way to the living room.

Once inside they sat on the sofa and clinked glasses while wondering what to do to break the ice.

Rosemary cracked first. “God, Jen, what are we doing? I feel like I’m trespassing!”

Jen laughed out loud. “Oh, thank you! If I didn’t have a glass in my hands, I’d be sitting on them to stop me from embarrassing myself!”

There was a more settled pause as they both looked down, glanced at each other and then away again.

“I feel like I did when I was a teenager on a first date,” admitted Jen.

“You think you’ve got problems!” Rosemary replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation like this.”

“What, never?” Jen exclaimed.

Rosemary frowned at her wine.

“I worked out pretty quickly that boys were after one thing. You can trade the promise of that for quite a lot without ever compromising yourself. I never met a David, mind you, I guess that even if I had, I’d have moved on to someone more malleable.”

“David’s no saint,” snorted Jen.

“Yeah, yeah, I know about that,” Rosemary said, rather too dismissively. Then she caught sight of Jen’s face and realised that she’d trodden on a land mine.

Jen’s face twisted. “I was in pieces when he told me he’d been unfaithful. I was already underwater, and I thought I’d never come up again.”

The hurt came back fresh and raw.

Rosemary was abashed, pain used to be something that happened to other people but after the experience of Harold’s illness and her father’s deterioration, she was less sanguine. She was discomfited to discover that it could affect her, even second hand.

She put her hand on Jen’s and tried to rescue the moment.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Jen covered Rosemary’s hand in turn and took a moment to compose herself. She nodded.

“It’s just not that long ago. We’re reconciled and everything; and in a much better place somehow because of it, but I can’t forget how it felt like my foundations were being dynamited.”

Rosemary picked Jen’s glass out of her fingers and put both glasses down on the table; then reached out to hug her. Jen rested her head on Rosemary’s shoulder and stared into the fire. The other woman’s hands ran soothingly across her back.

After a minute or two, Jen collected herself, sat up and cleared her throat.

“When?” she hesitated, “when did you…” she tailed off.

“Start having sex with girls?” Rosemary finished drily.

Jen blushed and Rosemary patted her knee.

“No worries. I was hit on by an older girl at school and found that I didn’t mind. If anything, it was even more exciting. Even more sneaking around and terror at being caught. I went to a rough school and being gay was a no-no.”

“But you still had relationships with men?”

“Gender doesn’t matter to me. Women are easier than men; but I still fancy the odd bloke.”

Rosemary looked sideways at Jen.

“I could have fallen very heavily for David, we would have conquered the world! Then I met his wonderful wife.”

She turned to face Jen and smiled. Jen felt the Universe contract to just the two of them. She leaned forward and kissed Rosemary as naturally as breathing.

When they broke, the world came back into focus, and Rosemary fought the urge to throw herself at the other woman.

“Having a shag with a bloke is risky though. You know that.” Rosemary said.

“Getting pregnant, you mean?”

“Not just that. Men will say and do anything to get into your knickers. Certainly, the men I knew would.”

Jen grimaced. “I only had two serious boyfriends before David. I didn’t sleep with either of them.”

Rosemary looked at her incredulously.

“Were you a virgin on your wedding night?”

Jen snorted, “No, but I had decided that David was The One.”

“Until I came along!” Rosemary quipped.

Jen’s face grew stern.

“You’re lovely and I want you, but I need David. Somehow, against the odds, I’ve got David and I’m never, ever going to lose him again.”

Rosemary wilted. “I’m sorry.”

Jen shook her head in irritation.

“Don’t be. I’m just still quite fragile where David’s concerned. He knows I have to do this, to find out how I feel about you, and he’s placed an enormous amount of trust in me to-”

Jen shook her head again, searching for the right words. “To do the right thing.”

They sat in silence for a while then Jen straightened her shoulders and reclaimed her wine.

“What were we talking about?”

“Before or after I put my other foot in my mouth?”

Jen smiled. “We hadn’t really got going.”

“Got going,” Rosemary mused.

The two of them were still sitting very close, their knees almost touching. Rosemary leaned towards Jen and kissed her delicately on the cheek. Jen leaned back slightly and looked Rosemary in the eye.

The flickering firelight showed as yellow pin pricks in those dark pools.

There was a momentary pause while Jen took in Rosemary’s clean scent and the minute heat from her skin before she closed the gap to kiss her on the lips.

Her lips were not very full, not like her own, but they were very soft. They kissed once, twice, three times; quite briefly, before drawing back to look at each other again.

“You close your eyes when you kiss,” Rosemary said.

“So do you!”

“How would you know with your eyes closed?”

“I opened them for a second and yours were shut too,” Jen retorted.

“So?”

“I read that you can tell if someone really likes you if they close their eyes when they kiss you.”

“You think I really like you?”

“You’re here, aren’t you? And since when did you apologise to anyone, Rosemary Ogilvie? So, I’m guessing that you really, really like me. And would do almost anything to stay in my good books.”

“Say you’re half right,” said Rosemary, slyly.

This scenario and versions of it had been occupying her head for months and Jen felt a surge of emotion breach her last reservations.

“Then kiss me. Kiss me like you mean it,” Jen said urgently, putting her hand behind Rosemary’s head and pulling her in. Their lips met and parted, and tongues danced with each other.

Rosemary tentatively put her hand up to cup Jen’s breast and was much encouraged when Jen pressed her hand firmly to it. She could feel the nipple stiff under the fabric, and she gently rolled it between thumb and forefinger. Jen hissed and bent to bite Rosemary’s neck.

Rosemary broke contact long enough to shrug her jacket from her shoulders and undo the top two buttons of her shirt. Then she reached out and pulled the bow of Jen’s blouse undone. Jen quickly undid the buttons of her blouse to reveal a camisole in some satiny material.

Rosemary always found being en deshabille highly erotic and she shivered in expectation. Now Jen was unfastening the remaining buttons on her shirt. Rosemary wasn’t wearing a bra.

“I haven’t got any tits, I’m afraid,” Rosemary confessed. “I thought about getting a boob job but while I’ve been married to Harold and doing the parties, it hasn’t really mattered.”

Jen frowned. David had mentioned the parties and obliquely referred to their goings-on. What did he say? Women servicing other women. With a strap on? Jen had never given a great amount of thought to how lesbians had sex.

Rosemary watched Jen’s face. “Penny for them.”

“Oh, I was just wondering how we do this,” she said, her cheeks colouring, “Y’know. It.”

“We do whatever feels nice,” said Rosemary firmly. “We don’t need safe words.”

“Safe words! What are safe words?”

“My, you have led a sheltered life!”

“Don’t laugh at me,” Jen said, embarrassed.

Rosemary was contrite. “I’m sorry. Old habits.”

She took Jen’s hand and placed it on her waist.

“Does that feel nice?”

Jen looked at her hand on the other woman’s skin. Her white fingers on Rosemary’s deep tan: the flesh pliant and warm. She ran her hand up and Rosemary arched her back and hummed. It was a warm, intimate sound that spoke to something inside her.

She brought her hand back round to Rosemary’s belly and then up to one of her chocolate nipples, sitting proud of the shallow cone of her breast.

The stiff point prodded her palm, and she curled her fingers so that the backs of her knuckles lightly grazed it. There was a slight intake of breath and Rosemary leaned in to increase the pressure.

Jen took the opportunity to nuzzle Rosemary’s neck, alternating little kisses with rubbing her cheek against it. One of Rosemary’s hands started to stroke the back of her head.

Nudging the other panel of the shirt aside, Jen reached up and eased the white cotton off her shoulders. Rosemary pushed her shoulders back and the material fell to her waist.

She held out her hands with the wrists together as if she was cuffed.

“I can’t undo.”

Jen fumbled at the fastenings. When undone, her lover shed the garment and sat erect, her black hair falling in a shimmering waterfall about her face.

In the warm glow of the fire, she looked like a goddess. Jen was in awe and the moment stretched and stretched.

Rosemary quirked an eyebrow. “I get that this is your first time and everything but are you going to kiss me or what?”

Jen shook her head to clear it and then bore Rosemary down on to the sofa. Rosemary’s arms came up to wrap around her and they kissed urgently.

Jen broke the embrace and lifted herself up on her elbows, breathing hard. “Now what?”

“Now I think you have too many clothes on. Are the children really asleep? I’d hate for them to come in and discover us.”

“No chance of that, by now they’re out for the count until tomorrow morning. Barring nightmares.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“I’ll deal with it if it happens. What did you say about my clothes?”

“This,” said Rosemary and lifted Jen’s camisole over her head.

“Oh my God, what gorgeous boobs!”

She leaned forward and took one of Jen’s nipples in her mouth.

Jen gasped; it was like there was an electric connection to her clit. She’d breast fed both of her children, but this was something else entirely.

Rosemary’s hand came up to cup Jen’s other breast and her thumb stroked the stiff nub. Jen was definitely going to get Rosemary to give David some pointers.

The firelight showed as a sheen on Rosemary’s hair and she ran her fingers through it. Suddenly she because aware that Rosemary’s other hand was making its way up her calf, under her skirt to her knee, to her thigh.

Her breath caught in her throat as she realised that this was where they were headed.

Then suddenly Rosemary’s fingers were under the material and circling on her thigh. When Rosemary switched from the pads of her fingers to her nails, Jen started to pant.

Her legs parted of their own accord, and she could feel that she was getting very wet. Those fingers made their way to her crotch and scratched lightly down the fabric of her knickers.

“Christ! Don’t!”

“Don’t what?”

“I don’t know!”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“Yes. No. Oh God!!”

Rosemary flattened her hand and massaged Jen’s mound.

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

Rosemary leaned up and whispered, “Keep it down, darling. You don’t want to wake the children and, did I say? This is just a taster.”

She kissed the side of Jen’s neck and nibbled her earlobe.

The feeling of Rosemary’s warm breath and the little electric shocks from her sex were rapidly depriving Jen of rational thought.

Abruptly, Rosemary rolled her to one side and stood up. She quickly undid the button on her jeans and peeled them down. Stepping out of them, she stood in front of Jen in thigh highs and a minuscule black thong.

“Sit up, it’s your turn,” she said silkily.

Jen stared up at her. Her figure was slim, almost boyish. Rosemary straddled her, lacing her hands behind Jen’s neck.

“Lick my nipples.”

In this position those chocolate points were right in front of her face. She leaned forward and tentatively ran her tongue over the nubbin.

Rosemary hummed in appreciation and Jen grew bolder, flicking it and then taking it between her lips and sucking.

“Ooh, you’re a natural,” Rosemary cooed. “Now do the other one.”

Jen switched sides and then felt Rosemary take one of her hands round to place it on the crotch of the thong. The material was damp, and Jen’s breathing got heavier as she ran her fingers over the fine cotton.

Rosemary pulled the thong to one side and then for the first time in her life, Jen was touching another woman’s hot, slippery sex.

The most amazing scent, like a super charged version of Rosemary’s ordinary aroma came to her nostrils. It did things to Jen’s brain, and she slipped a finger into Rosemary’s cleft.

“Mm, that’s bold!” Rosemary breathed into her ear. “Why don’t you go the whole way and put one inside me?”

Jen crooked her finger and slid it into Rosemary’s opening.

“The whole thing, darling, don’t tease me. And I could really do with at least one more.”

Jen gently eased a second finger inside, marvelling at the feeling of the slick walls of Rosemary’s cunt.

She started to finger fuck Rosemary and her lover put her hands on Jen’s shoulders.

“Just a second, darling, you can’t see what you’re doing, and I really think you should.”

She stood up, rid herself of the thong and sprawled back on the cushion at the other end of the sofa with her legs wide open.

Jen’s eyes were drawn to Rosemary’s swollen sex where her lubrication was starting to drip.

Rosemary beckoned her with a come-hither finger. “You were fucking me, Jennifer. You’ve stopped.”

Jen scooted over to Rosemary and looked in wonder as the slippery sex lips parted and then enveloped her fingers.

Rosemary crooned as Jen ministered to her.

“Lick your fingers, Jen, darling. Do it nice and slow so that I can see.”

Rosemary really was very good at this, Jen thought, withdrawing her fingers and holding them up in front of her face where they glistened in the firelight with Rosemary’s wetness.

She closed her eyes and brought them slowly to her face. The scent of Rosemary’s arousal was intoxicating, and she licked one finger and then the other.

Rosemary gasped, “Oh! That’s so sexy!”

Encouraged, Jen made a bit of a show of thoroughly cleaning her fingers. When she opened her eyes again, Rosemary was stroking her clit.

“Take your skirt off Jennifer, and then your knickers. Put on a show for me.”

Her legs were shaking so much she thought she wouldn’t be able to stand but she managed somehow. The skirt had a simple fastening and a zip at the back.

Once undone she let the garment fall to the floor. Now she was only dressed in her underwear.

Thinking of what Rosemary had said, she turned her back on her spectator and bent to ease her knickers as slowly as she could over the curve of her rump.

Some impulse made her pick up the sodden material and offer it to Rosemary.

Rosemary was panting as Jennifer revealed herself. The proffered knickers were seized, and she buried her nose in them, taking great lungfuls of the aroma.

“Enough!” she said urgently, grabbing Jen’s hand and pulling her down on to the sofa.

“Jennifer my darling, I’m going to give you the best orgasm you’ve ever had. Maybe more than one!”

This was suddenly all going a bit fast for Jen but as Rosemary ran her hand up the inside of her leg, she abandoned herself to whatever might happen next.

She shuddered as Rosemary bent to lick the inside of her thigh while her nails trailed little electric shocks over her skin. Then, with a start she felt Rosemary’s tongue lick the lips of her cunt, and then tease her clit. Sparks went off in her head.

Rosemary left her sex and trailed kisses up her thigh. Jen hissed in frustration and firmly guided Rosemary back between her legs where she nibbled Jen’s clit and then slid a finger inside her.

Jen gasped and opened her legs even wider to give Rosemary access. She felt totally wanton, willing to do whatever her lover suggested or simply submit to whatever she chose to do.

Rosemary accepted the offer, pushed three fingers inside her and proceeded to pump them in and out as Jen’s honey spilled onto her hand. She licked Jen’s clit as she worked and tried to keep up the rhythm as Jen’s hips surged off the sofa.

Jen’s breathing became steadily faster and heavier until suddenly, with one enormous huff, she went rigid, eyes tight closed, the muscles of her cunt squeezing Rosemary’s fingers.

When she eventually relaxed, she lay looking up at the ceiling.

“I hope to God the children don’t come in now.”

***

November

Her phone rang. It was a present from Rosemary and David had raised a quizzical eyebrow when she’d shown it to him.

She still wasn’t quite used to it and unfolded it gingerly.

“Yes?”

Rosemary’s voice sounded in her ear.

“Hello, Jen. I’m pleased I caught you. Are you alone?”

“Yes”

“So am I. I’ve just had a long hot soak and I’m lying on my bed. In case you were wondering, I’m completely naked. I’m running my nails across my breasts and my nipples are getting very stiff. I wish they were your nails, Jen. You have such lovely long fingers.”

Jen swallowed; her mouth suddenly dry.

“I’m just going to give my nipple a bit of a squeeze. Ah!”

The voice on the other end gasped huskily.

Jen’s own nipples were hard points in her bra, and she squirmed her thighs together.

The voice continued.

“Now I’m running my hands across my belly. The skin is firm and smooth but then you know that. I’m imagining you here with me.

We’re lying together and it’s your hands on my skin. Did I mention I had a long hot soak? I shaved my legs and then I shaved my cunt.”

Jen started at the vulgarity, but it ignited a heat between her legs.

“It’s lovely and smooth, Jen. I’m stroking it now, thinking of you. I’m very wet.”

Jen’s head was spinning. She stretched her legs and brought her clenched hand down to rest at the junction of her thighs.

“Oh!” the voice gasped, “I’ve got two fingers inside me. I think I could take three or maybe I should get the larger of my two toys.

What do you think, Jen? Should I slide that big pink toy up inside me? You know I think I’m going to do just that.”

There was a giggle.

“Actually, I planned to do that all along. Oh! I’m just easing the tip into me now. I wish it was you fucking me with this, Jen. Pushing it into my hot, wet hole. Ah! It’s quite big, not as big as David of course.”

Jen frowned. She didn’t like to think of David with Rosemary in the days before they had pivoted into some new arrangement that she didn’t quite understand, but very definitely didn’t involve sex.

She didn’t feel the same way about Em, who was quite clearly still in love with her husband. It was also a touch hypocritical seeing as she was now picturing herself entwined with Rosemary.

Rosemary was panting.

“Oh, it’s stretching me most deliciously, Jennifer. I wish you were here to see it. Maybe even help it along a bit. Lick my clit and make me even wetter. Ah!”

“Bitch,” Jen muttered and there was an answering cackle.

The line went dead, and Jen sat for a moment before folding the phone up and putting it down. Her knickers were soaking.

Jumping to her feet she went running into the study where David was working. He turned in surprise at her sudden appearance.

She seized his hand, pulled him to his feet and started fumbling with his trousers.

“Whoa! What’s all this in aid of?”

“That cow has got me in a complete state!”

David grinned. “She does have a talent for it.”

Imagining Rosemary teasing his wife over the phone made his cock stiffen and Jen eased it out of his fly, helping it along with strokes and squeezes. He took her by the waist and hosted her on to the desk. Lifting her skirt, he surveyed the state of her underwear.

“My, my.”

“Don’t tease me, David,” Jen said, her voice thick with lust. “Rosie’s done a good enough job on that. I want you to fuck my brains out. ”

David quickly peeled off the sodden garment and standing between her thighs, he made ready. Jen raised herself on her elbows and watched as he slowly eased himself inside her.

The feeling was exquisite, his cock touching every part of her, filling her completely.

“Oh God,” she said, “that’s good.”

David chuckled. “I live to serve.”

He started slowly but gradually picked up the pace until he was ramming into her, the desk thumping in time against the wall.

***

Unbeknownst to the two of them, after she failed to get an answer at the front, Em had let herself in via the back door.

Finding herself alone in the kitchen she stood still and closed her eyes, opening herself to the rich and complex ambience.

Above the immediate warm kitchen smell of cooking and spices, there was the background hum of laundry and the indefinable scent of children. This was a living house.

She thought then of her own house and was powerfully reminded how it had changed when David was there. How it might have been if Jim had lived.

There was a rhythmic sound transmitting itself through the fabric of the house. Workmen?

Curious, she went looking for its source before, halfway up the stairs, realisation dawned. She turned on her heel immediately and then paused.

Distantly she could hear the sound of their coupling and some quixotic impulse carried her feet up the stairs as quietly as she could.

What was she doing? She was a respected member of the community, for goodness’ sake! One that had been paying this man for sex, her inner monologue remarked sardonically.

She paused at the door to the study and then cautiously peeked round.

Jen’s ankles were crossed on David’s shoulder and Em had a clear view of his cock as it thrust into her. David and Jen were holding hands and gazing at each other with adoration.

Em was part jealous, part wistful and very aroused. Her hand stole down to massage herself through her clothes.

Suddenly Jen’s eyes flicked to the doorway and Em was paralysed. She couldn’t run, what was the point? Now she was exposed as a cheap voyeur.

But Jen said nothing, her eyes switched to David and then back to the doorway. Jen knew Em still loved David, she’d said as much.

She stole back down the stairs and sat at the kitchen table in a daze. A few minutes later Jen came in and sat down with her. She reached out and took Em’s hand.

“This must be hard for you.”

Em turned to look at Jen and there was a terrible combination of longing and despair in her expression.

“I’d better go,” Em said and stood from the table.

***

Realignment

December

She was sitting in a rooftop bar overlooking the Thames. The bar was one of those all glass and brushed stainless steel affairs. Despite this they’d paid proper attention to the acoustics; all conversation muted.

She stared out of the window. The river completely changed its character at night; the grey water of the day transmuted into a dark ribbon.

So far, she’d rebuffed half a dozen pick up attempts as she nursed her drink. Jen occupied more and more of Rosemary’s thoughts.

She struggled with the intensity of her feelings: the conflict between the deep respect she felt for David and terrible flashes of jealousy. She wanted Jen all to herself. Rosemary did not share things.

“Darling! What a surprise!”

Rosemary looked up from her drink to see Christine Packhurst, one of the less frequent attendees at her gatherings. Pencil skirt, jacket, silk blouse, pearls, fashionable clutch. Was there a factory somewhere that turned out these identikit society blondes?

She didn’t really want company but Christine – Chris? she wondered vaguely – would serve two purposes. Firstly, derail her obsessive thoughts about Jen, and secondly, deter all but the most single-minded admirers.

“Hello Christine, what brings you here?”

“Call me Chris, darling, everyone does. I live just around the corner. Thought I’d pop in on my way home. I must say I wasn’t expecting to see you. What brings you here?”

“Lawyers. I’m still dealing with Harold’s estate.”

Chris laid her hand on Rosemary’s. “Oh yes, you poor thing. How long has it been now?”

“He died last September. It’s taken a while to get my head around everything he did.”

“I can imagine! And just little old you to cope with it all!”

Rosemary considered this statement, thinking how it put her down on so many levels. She had Harold’s name and Harold’s money, but she didn’t have his breeding.

Then there was, what was it Harold had said? Oh yes, a guttersnipe. A guttersnipe having the necessary acumen to deal with anything complicated.

And, of course, well-bred young women didn’t soil their hands with anything so crass as making money.

Christine probably never gave a thought to where the money came from, just that her credit card was never declined.

“It’s interesting. And surprisingly time consuming. No wonder I never saw Harold.”

“Is that why you’re not doing your parties anymore. They were wonderfully racy!”

Rosemary realised that the very tips of Christine’s fingers, just the nails in fact, were still resting lightly on the top of her hand.

“No, I’ve not had the time and I’d got what I needed out of them.”

Christine’s brow crinkled minutely. It had all been a bit of risqué larking about. Hadn’t it? A tiny seed of doubt was sown.

Rosemary looked at Christine with contempt. How would she have fared behind the bar of the Admiral Nelson, where Harold had found Rosemary a lifetime ago? That world would have eaten her alive. This world, however, had sharks of its own.

“But if you’re short of entertainment, Chris, I’m sure we could arrange something…”

She let the statement trail off.

Standing up she walked slowly towards the toilets, letting just the right amount of swagger move her hips.

Halfway there she looked over her shoulder to find Christine maybe half a dozen paces behind her, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

There weren’t many patrons in the bar this early in the evening, so Rosemary wasn’t too surprised to find the Ladies deserted. Time to up the ante on this one.

When Christine pushed the door open, she found Rosemary perched on the line of sinks. She crooked a finger at Christine and the blonde made her way across the tiles until she stood in front of Rosemary.

She crooked her finger again and Christine edged forward between Rosemary’s legs until they were virtually nose to nose.

Christine’s eyes were closed and her lips slightly parted.

Rosemary whispered, “So, how do you want it, Chris? Do you want quick and dirty, or do you need me to make you?”

The other woman nodded, and Rosemary snapped, “Which?”

“Make me,” Christine whispered.

Rosemary slipped down from the counter and bent Christine over it. “Lift your skirt up.”

“What? Here?”

Rosemary slapped her rump hard. Even with the material there was a resounding crack.

“Now.”

The other woman reached down to grasp the hem and lift it up over the curve of her arse. It was a good-looking arse, Rosemary thought. Probably had its own manicurist or whatever the beautifiers of arses would call themselves.

Flawless white skin and a very skimpy lace thong.

Rosemary grasped the material and ripped it apart, throwing the fragments to the floor then slid her hand between Christine’s legs.

“Oh my. I think I’m doing you a service. And services need to be paid for.”

“What?” said Christine again.

This time there was no protection from the stinging slap that accompanied Rosemary’s hissed, “Quiet!”

Christine shuddered but now Rosemary was pushing her to her knees. She found herself face to face with the crotch of Rosemary’s thong. Two fingers pulled it aside and the voice from above her said, “Lick me.”

Almost in a trance, Christine leaned forward and ran her tongue over the smooth flesh.

Rosemary leaned back on one hand and pressed the back of Christine’s head with the other. It wasn’t like she needed any encouragement; she was eating Rosemary’s cunt enthusiastically.

A little clumsy perhaps but what she lacked in technique she made up with fervour. Now if Rosemary could only get Jen’s image out of her head.

She became aware that the door to the rest room was slightly ajar. Rosemary could see the eyes of at least two people watching the show. She smiled and waved. There were giggles and Christine paused in her efforts.

“I didn’t say you could stop.”

Rosemary sighed, she was close and then, as Christine sucked her clit in between her lips and flicked it with her tongue, she went over the edge, struggling to stay upright as her legs jerked.

She made sure to hold Christine’s face in place as her orgasm subsided. Then she stood upright, pulled her skirt down and swiftly strode from the room, leaving the other woman kneeling, her face glistening with Rosemary’s juices.

As she opened the door, the two peeping toms let themselves in with delighted smiles.

“Golly Chris! That was quite a show! I wish I’d had a camera!”

Rosemary left them behind and went to collect her coat. She’d scratched an itch, but it hadn’t solved her problem.

***

The card had arrived in the morning post. Just a conventional Christmas card but inside, in her handwriting, it said ‘Love, Jen’ with two kisses.

Rosemary rubbed the bridge of her nose with thumb and forefinger. This was mad. There was no way Jen was going to leave David for her, she was still in love with David, that was painfully obvious. And she didn’t want Jen to leave David. The competing emotions threatened to derail her entirely.

How had she let this happen? She’d never allowed her feelings to interfere before. And how could she tell Jen that she… what? With a terrible effort Rosemary dug the word out of the innermost core of herself.

Love.

Loved Jen.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, Rosemary cried. She wept for the unfairness of it all, flipping between anger and remorse, unsure quite what she was sorry for, apart from everything, and angry that she had allowed herself to get into this situation. They weren’t playing by the rules! Her rules!

Furiously dashing the tears from her cheeks, Rosemary resolved that the best thing for her sanity was to walk away from the whole sorry mess.

***

“I’m thinking of moving away.”

“No! No, Rosie! Why? Is it something I’ve said? Is it something I’ve done?”

Jen clutched Rosemary’s sleeve. “Oh God, Rosie, don’t leave me.”

Tears started to run down Rosemary’s face.

“I can’t cope, Jen. I can’t handle watching you walk away from me knowing that you’re going to him. I can’t handle being jealous of David.”

“You’ve got problems? I was raised a good Catholic. Part of me gnaws away at my feelings for you. I’m trying to be more like my husband.”

“You’re what!” Rosemary was incredulous.

Jen threw her arms wide. “David just lets things happen!”

She mimicked the way he spoke, “Everything will turn out for the best! Relax!”

Rosemary snorted into her handkerchief.

“He’s impossible. That only works because we run around smoothing the path for him!”

“I know, but do you mind?”

Rosemary was silent.

“David is like the Sun. The rest of us orbit around him and he bathes us in, I don’t know, contentment.”

“I don’t feel very contented when you walk from me to him.”

“Do you want to put me in a box, Rosie?”

“No! Of course not! What are you talking about?”

“At Christmas, you wanted to be the one whose arm I took when I came in, didn’t you? You want Trophy Jen. Well, I’m not that Barbie, Rosie. I have lots of other outfits. I’m not going to let you put me in a cabinet that no one else can touch.”

Rosemary was appalled. Was that what she wanted? She stood abruptly and started to pace about.

“No, I don’t want that, but I’ve always been able to get what I want, Jen. I… I don’t know if I can change. That’s why I have to go away.”

“That’s running away!” Jen said sharply.

“Yes, it is,” admitted Rosemary, picking up her coat and making for the door.

***

January

Rome was cold but magnificent. Rosemary tried to lose herself walking around the city. It seemed that everywhere you went there was yet another piece of antiquity.

At one point she passed an impressive set of steps and on impulse climbed them, thinking that they had to lead to somewhere equally impressive only to discover that they petered out into a modest little courtyard. Or maybe they did now, maybe centuries back they had gone to somewhere grander.

She walked through the gardens of the Villa Borghese and stood for a while looking across to the walls of the Vatican City in the distance: then wended her way down to the Spanish Steps, thronged with tourists.

Alone in a city filled with people, Rosemary wandered; getting on the Metro and getting off at a random destination to explore the surroundings.

One morning she rose early to take breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. The sun lanced in through the tall windows and Rosemary felt as if Rome still had secrets to reveal.

On leaving the hotel, she made her way down the street and found her feet picking up until she was almost skipping.

The light saturated the cream-coloured stone of the buildings, and perfectly counterpointed the blue of the sky. No wonder humankind had settled here. The mystery was why it had ever bothered to go anywhere else.

Rosemary mentally gave herself a pat on the back. This trip had proved effective at deflecting her obsession with Jennifer Piper. She felt much better in her head than she had in days.

However, suddenly wary that she might be in danger of thinking about the woman, Rosemary detoured into a gallery where cool stone and muted lighting settled her aura.

She idled past a collection of sculpture. The shapes were intriguing, if not quite to her taste, but she had to resist an urge to run her fingers over the tactile curves.

An installation of modern art, all angles and abstracts, didn’t detain her. It wasn’t that she actively disliked it, but it rarely moved her.

Some portraiture absorbed her attention for a while. The pictures were largely of men, stern and serious faces in bleached colours, as if they’d been left in the sun for too long. They reminded her of early black and white photographs.

She turned into a side room and slowly scanned the walls before coming to a sudden halt. The painting of the young woman reclining on a day bed looked down at her with dark eyes.

Rosemary felt as if she were dissolving, turning into smoke.

Fearing for her sanity, she tore herself away and stumbled blindly into the street, clutching at the metal railings outside for support. Passers-by gave her a wide berth.

***

A couple of weeks more of what she now unhappily realised was mere aimlessness, drifted by and then one evening she found herself eating at a restaurant a short walk from the Parthenon.

She pushed the ravioli around the plate.

“Scusi, signora, va bene il pasto?”

She looked up to see a middle-aged man bending over the table.

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak Italian.”

“Ah, Inglese. I beg your pardon. I was asking if your meal was satisfactory?”

Rosemary sighed deeply and he frowned. She leaned back in her chair and waved at the window.

“Rome is lovely. The buildings are amazing, the art beyond compare.”

The restauranteur was smiling and nodding now.

She gestured at her plate. “The food is, I believe you say, perfetto.”

“Madam said she did not speak Italian!” he said, his eyes crinkling.

She gestured at him. “The problem is me.”

He put his head on one side and then indicated the chair across the table from her. “May I?”

“Please.”

He turned the chair around the full 180, then sat and rested his arms on the back.

“You are heartsick,” he observed.

“Don’t I know it,” she said wearily.

“Is he married?”

She pondered this for a moment and then said, “Yes, she is.”

His eyebrows went up but otherwise he remained silent.

“Her husband is wonderful too. I respect him, I love him too – though not like that. They’re a great couple.”

“Does she love you?”

“Yes, I think so. But she loves her husband. I don’t think I can share her with anyone.”

The restauranteur offered her a white napkin as her tears fell. She seemed to be crying a lot lately. The Ice Queen was in danger of melting.

“I don’t know what to do. I can’t stay here forever, but I can’t face her.”

“Does her husband know?”

“Yes!” she said, with rather more vehemence than she intended, and heads turned across the room.

“Yes,” Rosemary said again more calmly, “and that’s the awful thing.”

He chuckled. “And they say that the English are dull.”

“What should I do?”

“You’re asking me?” he said in surprise, and she looked at him steadily until he threw up his hands.

“It’s obvious!”

“So, tell me. What do I do?”

“Go and see them. Both of them. Tell them how you feel. They’ll be worried about you. Do you want to make your girlfriend unhappy?”

“No.”

“Then why are you sitting here? Our ravioli con ricotta e salmone is the best in Rome, but it’s not better than a lover’s kiss.”

***

Jen opened the door to see Rosemary standing with her hands by her sides.

“Sorry,” Rosemary said, simply.

Jen flung herself at the other woman, taking her face in her hands, raining kisses on it.

“Where have you been? Why didn’t you answer any of my texts? Are you alright?”

Rosemary put her arms around Jen and buried her face in her hair, delighting in the smell and the feel. Her heart hammered in her chest.

David appeared in the doorway.

“There you are! We’ve been worried sick!”

Rosemary disentangled herself from Jen and went to embrace David.

“I’m so sorry. I’ve been having a kind of a breakdown.”

She felt Jen’s hand on her back and then suddenly it was the three of them reassuring each other of their solidity.

Eventually David steered them to the warmth of the living room where the fire crackled merrily.

“I think you two need a bit of time to yourselves,” he said, and found his hand grasped in a surprisingly firm grip.

“No, David. This is about you.”

He inclined his head. “Then I think this will need wine; back in moment.”

As he left the room, Jen leaned in and gave Rosemary a soul-eating kiss.

“Don’t you ever go away again.”

“I’m going to try to make this work, Jen, I really am. I just need to do this first.”

David came back in armed with glasses and corkscrew.

“I’ve asked Tilly to watch a video with Josh for a bit. That should buy us twenty minutes at least.”

Rosemary got up and went to sit in the other chair. Jen looked puzzled. David watched: eyes bright.

“I want to be Jen’s girlfriend, David. I’m asking your permission.”

“Surely it’s Jen that gets to decide this?” he replied.

“It would if she wasn’t married. And that wouldn’t matter too much either, except she’s married to you. I know you gave her permission to explore but I’m done with exploring.”

“I… see,” he said slowly. “Where does this take you?”

“I don’t know, but I have to find out or I’ll go mad or throw myself off a bridge or something.”

Jen put her hand to her mouth.

“I wandered round Rome for a month.”

“Aeneas founded Rome; you know,” David observed with a wry smile.

Rosemary gave him a long look and then continued, “before a restaurant owner put me straight.”

“Don’t ask,” she said putting her hand up to still David’s amused expression.

“Wisdom of children and all that and before you jump in, I know that’s the wrong turn of phrase but please, just for five minutes, hold your tongue.”

David nodded and sat back in his chair.

“I’m not used to sharing, David. In fact, I never have. It’s either mine or it isn’t and there’s never been a halfway house. But Jen put me straight on that before I left the country.

She told me I was going to put her in a box and not let anyone else touch her. And that’s exactly what I was going to do. I didn’t know it but after a while it sunk in because that’s all I’ve ever done.”

“So now what?” Jen said.

“I’m going to try really, really hard to be hands off.”

“Well, that’s not going to work!” Jen said in attempt at levity.

“I’m serious, Jen. I want a bedroom in this house for me and you. I won’t be here all the time, but I want to be able to come and go.”

“You don’t want much!” said David with an amused smile.

Rosemary threw him a worried look.

“That’s where you’re wrong, David; I want it all. But I’m going to try managing with what I’m allowed. Is it too much?”

Jen went to kneel in front of her and took her hands.

“No, it’s fine. We’ll work this out.”

She threw her arms round Rosemary’s neck and hugged her tightly. “Stay with me, darling.”

“I guess I’m going to lose you this evening,” David remarked, smiling.

“How can you do that?” Rosemary exclaimed. “If she was mine, I’d never let her go.”

“Love is letting go,” he said with a wry smile.

Rosemary held Jen at arm’s length. “What’s he talking about?”

Jen looked at her seriously.

“Yes, I am yours. But I’m not your property. See how loosely you can hold on to me. In fact, try not holding on to me at all.”

Rosemary looked at Jen’s hands and then at David.

Jen stood up and pulled her to her feet. “Come and help me make dinner.”

Make dinner? Rosemary hadn’t made a meal in her life. Dumbly she followed Jen into the kitchen.

“Do you know how to make Greek salad?” Jen asked, looking back over her shoulder.

“No,” said Rosemary. “I don’t think I’ve ever made anything that anyone would want to eat.”

Jen turned to her, surprised. “What, never?”

Embarrassed, Rosemary looked down. She had never imagined being in the position of supplicant.

“The kitchen was always on the white areas of the map.”

Suddenly her wrists were seized and startled she looked up to Jen’s beaming face.

“Then there’s so much you’ve missed out on! There’s no greater pleasure in life than making food for your loved ones!”

My loved ones? Rosemary thought. Is this what it meant to give? To share? Could you care for more than one person?

Jen evidently thought so. And was making room for one more. Her eyes pricked and her cheeks grew hot.

Jen looked at her with narrowed eyes. “You really haven’t done this before, have you?”

Rosemary shook her head mutely.

“See that knife? I need some spring onions chopped. Do that for me, darling.”

Darling? She would never tire of hearing Jen say that.

***

March

The wind rattled the leaves of the big oak tree against the window.

In the bedroom that Rosemary now used in place of the one she had shared with Harold, the lovers lay facing each other with their heads resting on their arms, content in the other’s nearness.

“I want to ask you something,” Jen said.

“Anything,” Rosemary murmured; her eyes closed.

“What would you think if I told David that as he’s allowed me to have you, then he’s allowed to have Em, if she’s willing?”

Rosemary chuckled. “Oh, this is going to be fun!”

Jen searched her lover’s face.

“But what do you think?”

“Who knows, Jen? I used to like being in control. I needed to be in control after my childhood. Now I’ve discovered that life is more fun when you let go. It must be David’s influence.”

Jen laughed. “I couldn’t believe it when he told me to explore things with you! I should have known better.”

“He’s amazing. You’re so lucky. I’m so lucky. I’ve got you and him. I never imagined I could have everything. I guess I’m still growing up. With you and David and the kids.”

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind Jen’s ear and her partner reached up to take her hand.

Their foreheads touched and Jen murmured, “I like Marjorie. I know she loves David, and he still cares for her. She helped him when he needed it and then she sent him back to me. She’s given so much, and she’s left with nothing.”

“That’s not a good place to be.”

“So, are you okay with it?”

“If Marjorie Barrett can cope with me then I can surely cope with her. I’d better start looking for a bigger house!”

“I keep forgetting you’ve got money!”

Rosemary’s smile vanished.

“I’d give it all up for you.”

***

Jen stood by the entrance to David’s study where he was working at the computer. He looked round and smiled his lazy smile, and her heart lifted.

“Hello, darling. What’s up?”

“David, I want to talk to you about Em,” Jen said carefully.

He pushed himself round on the swivel chair so that he was facing her.

“When did you start calling her Em?”

“She asked me to. You know she still loves you, don’t you?”

David frowned. “I thought she might. When she sent me back to you, I thought I was going to break in half. If I’d known that she felt so deeply for me I might not have made it out.”

Jen paused and then said delicately, “Well, it seems to me that if I’ve got a choice of partners, that’s a little unfair on you. And Em.”

Truly surprised, David stood up.

“What are you saying?”

“Em needs you, David. She’s shown herself to be quite good at self-sacrifice and that needs to be rewarded. I think… I think there’s enough love to go round.”

***

It was well after dark as Marjorie Barrett searched for a parking place. Unless she stayed the night, it was going to be after midnight before she got home.

After she’d admitted her feelings about David to Jen, a small spark has been ignited within her and it obdurately refused to go out.

Even the briefest possibility of staying over made her heart quicken momentarily until she clamped her lips into thin lines and concentrated on the job in hand.

David had been characteristically vague about why he wanted to see her in person. She was annoyed with herself for not putting up more resistance.

Part of her whispered that it was a chance to be in his company. Another part of her told it to shut up or they’d never know a minute’s peace.

Finally easing the Ford Escort into a space one street over, she killed the engine and stepped out into the evening chill. The road was quiet, and she was the only soul to be seen.

Em was not particularly afraid of the dark and this was not a rough neighbourhood, but she quickened her step anyway.

Arriving at the Piper’s terraced house she looked up at the Edwardian exterior. It was a far cry from the cottage. She smiled, it warmed her heart to see him and his family in a better place.

She trotted up the steps and knocked, not too loudly, and after a minute or two, David opened it and welcomed her in.

“Em! Lovely to see you!”

She fought hard to keep herself to a small smile, rather than the ecstatic grin that was trying to break through and stepped inside.

‘On your guard!’ she thought.

They made their way into the kitchen, and she stood by the door while David put the kettle on. He perched against the corner of the table.

“Where is Jennifer?” she asked.

“She’s out,” he said, and that damnable little spark flared a little brighter. The children were asleep, and it was just the two of them.

“How’s your day been?”

“Oh, the usual. You were rather mysterious on the phone, David. You’re not in any more trouble, are you? You do seem to attract it.”

He chuckled. “No more so than usual, Em. No, I have something to ask you and I thought it was better done in person.”

“You don’t suit subterfuge, David,” Em said, severely.

He smiled at her, and her traitorous heart lifted.

For a few moments there was silence as he busied himself with making coffee. He poured two mugs, added milk, and put one down in front of her, then retreated to the other end of the table.

“I’ve been thinking,” he started and then stopped. Uncharacteristically, he seemed to be stuck for words.

Em raised her eyebrows and wondered what it was that he might be about to say.

“The thing is, Em, I love Jen. The way we are now is as good as I ever imagined it could be. But there could be more.”

More? Whatever could more be? she thought.

“She told me you still love me. Is that true?”

Em couldn’t meet his eyes.

“You sent me away for the good of my family. It was the right thing to do but it nearly broke me to leave you. You were the one that saved me.”

Em fumbled in her pockets for a tissue. A whole packet of things that she’d carefully parcelled up and put away were being brought out for inspection.

David continued, “The day I insisted you stop paying me was the day we became lovers and I’ve never stopped loving you.”

“Oh David, don’t.”

“Don’t what? You’re the woman that put me back together and I’m just supposed to leave you adrift? What kind of man is that?”

He started to prowl the kitchen floor then stopped and put his mug down. He laid his hands flat on the table and looked her in the eye.

“I know this is going to sound greedy, but I don’t see why I can’t have both of you.”

Her eyebrows rose even further.

“But David, being unfaithful to Jen was how you came to be in that mess in the first place,” she said gently

He looked up, his face hopeful.

“It’s turned out quite well, considering.”

“That’s as maybe, but I like Jen, and I don’t want to do anything to hurt her.”

“It was her suggestion.”

Em sat down abruptly. Jen’s suggestion!

The words tumbled out of him.

“Live a life with us, Em. A big, messy, life. Not rattling around inside that empty house. I want you to be happy. Jen wants you to be happy.”

After he finished there was silence for a few moments as she tried to process what he was asking. He looked down into his coffee and she realised he was blushing. A small smile curved her lips.

He sat down across the table from her.

“Listen, this arrangement is going to take a lot of work. We’re not a complete picture yet. Heavens, we’re not even sure what that picture is going to look like! Jen’s been doing some exploring of her own as well.”

Em stared at him and thought about what he was offering: a chance to be with him again; to be part of a family! A rather unusual family from the sound of it. Then his closing remarks prompted a question.

“Jen is exploring? Exploring what?”

David looked uncharacteristically diffident. Em’s eyes narrowed.

“David, what am I getting myself into?”

He broke into a delighted smile.

“Does that mean you’ll join us?”

Em was taken aback, was that what she’d just done? She shook her head.

“I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it. It’s all very modern. Where would we live? Would I live with you?”

“Of course! How could we be together if you didn’t?”

“What about the children?”

“They get an Aunty Em and extra presents.”

Em smiled. She liked Josh and Tilly, which had surprised her because she hadn’t thought she had a maternal bone in her body.

“Bedrooms, David, we wouldn’t all sleep in the same bed, surely?”

“I guess not. Jen wouldn’t like the way you thrash around in your sleep.”

“I do not thrash around!” she retorted, belatedly realising that he was teasing her.

“Details, Em. We’ll work them out as we go along. Have a room here and come and go as you please while you see if it works.”

Em rolled her eyes, his base assumption in all things was that everything would work out if you gave it time. Then she realised that he’d quite neatly avoided answering her question.

“Is it just going to be, children excepted, the three of us?”

He looked guilty.

“David?”

“There might be a fourth.”

Em sighed. “Who?”

“Rosemary.”

She was aghast.

“I thought you were free of that woman!”

“I am.”

“Then…”

Em’s eyes got very round, and her mouth formed the classic ‘o’.

“Jennifer?” she squeaked.

He nodded. “They’ve been… getting to know each other.”

“And you’re alright with that? Does she know what she’s like? What she’s done?”

“Mm, pretty much. I left out some of the raunchier bits but yeah.”

“She blackmailed you, David!”

“But she let me go. And I like her; she’s tough and smart but under all that I think she’s quite damaged. That evil super-villain schtick comes from needing to control her surroundings. Maybe Jen will fix some of that and then she can learn to let go a bit.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You said you would think about it.”

He smiled and got up to come round the table to her. He knelt so that their faces were nearly level.

The heady mix of his cologne and his own innate scent came to her and some not so very deep part of her was screaming, ‘Yes!’

She put her arms round his neck and rested her forehead on his, revelling in his nearness.

“Ratbag,” she murmured.

To her relief he didn’t try to kiss her. She swallowed hard and broke contact to look him in the eye.

“Let me go away and do my thinking, David. With that woman in the mix, it all gets very complicated.”

He smiled.

“We don’t want to lead dull lives, Em.”

She shook her head, and on impulse kissed him. That was a mistake. As their lips touched, her heart soared inside her.

David’s expression was ecstatic. He pulled her to him and crushed her in his embrace.

“God, David! You’ll break my ribs!” she exclaimed.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that, Em!”

His eyes were bright, and she melted in his regard. This was a man she could give herself to, almost beyond what he might ask of her.

“Now what, David?” she asked, hoping and dreading what he might say.

He took her hand and drew her to the stairs, and it seemed to her that every upward step she took was a little further into light, leaving a dark miasma behind.

***

She knelt in front of him, caressing his erection while she prolonged the unfastening of his clothes.

This was as difficult for her as it was for him. She wanted to be filled, to be brought to ecstasy, to gasp his name, to lie with him.

Her knickers were a sodden scrap of material, and she could feel her wetness starting to run down her thigh.

She put a hand between her legs, gathered some of the moisture and offered it to David who took her fingers into his mouth.

She moaned at the feeling of his tongue caressing her. She wanted that tongue in her most intimate place almost as much as she wanted him to bend her over the bed and take her from behind.

Em stood up and put her arms around his neck.

“I have a problem, David.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t decide if I want you to lick me or fuck me. I don’t suppose you can do both?”

“My apologies, Mrs Barrett. I’m not equipped.”

“It’s your choice then, David. Do what you will.”

David looked into her eyes and realised that she meant exactly that. She would do whatever he asked.

“Then join us, Em.”

Em smiled and nodded. She had no idea how that was to be achieved but she fully concurred with the sentiment.

“Now take off those knickers, darling. I’ve decided on the order of events.”

He knelt and ran his tongue between her swollen lips and dipped it into her, collecting some of the nectar, the scent inflaming his senses. He lowered his head, and his nose invaded her cleft.

The combination of her slick sex and the smell of her arousal seemed to be directly wired to his cock. It was now so stiff it was a wonder there was any blood left to operate the rest of him.

Em started to pant, her legs quivering as her climax hovered in the wings. His tongue sought out her sensitive bean, hiding in its protective sheath.

He rolled it gently with lips and his tongue, feeling her quiver as he did so. Her juices started to run from her, and David could feel them dripping from his chin.

She started to make the little high pitched gasps that he loved so much. David stood up and entered her in one smooth motion.

The silky sensation of her cunt enveloping his cock was indescribable and he felt himself borne on a pulse of joy and emotion that drove all other things out of him.

Em in her turn felt him penetrate her as a tidal wave. She was so wet there was virtually no resistance. Indeed, it seemed to dial her up to eleven.

And then, oh God, he withdrew and entered her again. She wondered if she would be able to stand it, whether her heart or her mind would give out. She clutched the bedsheets and arched her back to take even more of him.

Meanwhile, down the corridor, Jen and Rosemary, who had returned a few minutes earlier, lay in bed listening to the sound of lovemaking.

“Do we make that much noise?” Jen asked.

“I swear I didn’t think Marjorie Barrett could!”

Jen trailed her nails down the line of her lover’s spine and Rosemary shivered. She opened her legs wide in invitation and Jen’s fingers dipped lower.

Jen put her mouth close to Rosemary’s ear.

“David’s a big boy, Rosie. Just imagine that lovely big cock of his. Going inside Marjorie Barrett. Inch by inch. Until she’s quite full.”

Rosemary groaned. Jen’s hot moist breath and skilful fingers were bad enough but the images she was conjuring in Rosemary’s head were ten times worse.

Her lover continued, “I know how that feels. He was inside me this morning. It was so wonderful I thought I’d die.”

Rosemary growled and pounced on her. Jen lay with her arms pinned above her head and her long dark hair framing her face like a halo. She looked up at Rosemary with serious dark eyes.

“Are you going to make me forget about all that, darling?”

Rosemary leaned in and kissed her, their tongues dancing a liquid tango.

“I’m going to try very hard.”

“I do hope so!”

***

A little while later, having been thoroughly, satisfyingly, fucked, Marjorie Barrett rested her chin on her wrist and contemplated her options.

Join with this madcap band of adventurers or gradually dry up and blow away on one of those seasonal Eastern gales?

David grunted and turned over. Em looked across at his sleeping form and smiled in helpless affection. The answer was clear.

***

The next morning there was a slightly awkward rendezvous at the kitchen table.

David hummed as he set about cooking breakfast. Em took her place and poured a cup of coffee, while she tried unsuccessfully not to look at Rosemary and Jennifer’s joined hands.

She looked up to find Jennifer watching her with her head on one side and a kind smile. Next to her, Rosemary glowed, there was no other word for it. The usual arrogant, slightly predatory, set of her features was absent.

“Morning, Marjorie,” Rosemary said cheerfully.

“Good morning,” Em responded.

“Did you sleep well?”

Em could feel herself blushing deeply.

Jennifer elbowed her… Em struggled for the appropriate word… companion in the ribs.

“Rosie! Be nice!”

“I am being nice!” she said, all injured innocence, but her eyes danced.

David looked over his shoulder and grinned.

“Very well, thank you for asking,” Em said firmly.

“This is going to be fun!” Rosemary said, taking a sip of her coffee.

Before Marjorie could compose a suitable riposte, Tilly came into the kitchen. She stopped in the doorway, looking at the unexpected gathering.

“Bacon and egg, Tills?” said her father.

“Cereal, I bet,” Jennifer replied, as she got up to find a dish and a spoon.

“Good morning, Tilly.”

“Hello, Mrs Barrett.”

“I think,” she said carefully, “you may call me Aunty Em, Tilly.”

“Okay,” said the youngster as she dropped into her mother’s chair, next to Rosemary.

Jennifer beamed at Em, and she found herself unbending a little.

It was Rosemary’s turn to sport the wry smile and Marjorie decided that if the Ice Queen could reinvent herself, then she could jolly well rise to the challenge.

“How is school, Tilly?”

The youngster pulled a face.

“I’ve got games today. I hate games.”

“Ah! Let me guess, hockey?”

“Netball.”

“Get those elbows out, Tills,” said Rosemary. “Show those girls you can fight!”

Rosemary was looking at Em as she said this. Marjorie’s brows drew down and her eyes narrowed.

“Skill is more important than aggression, Tilly. A skilful player doesn’t need to lay a hand on an opponent.”

Rosemary tsked and Em gave her a tight little smile. The other woman was in the process of framing a reply when David placed a plate in front of her.

She looked up at him, almost annoyed at being interrupted, and he widened his eyes. A brief bark of laughter escaped her, and she shook her head.

“Love fifteen,” Rosemary said, looking at Em.

Jen put a hand on Rosemary’s shoulder and for a moment, husband and wife framed her. Jen looked at her husband and Em found herself tearing up. She fumbled for a tissue.

Jen rapidly rounded the table to kneel beside her.

Tilly looked alarmed. When grown-ups cried, it was usually bad news. Her father put his hands on her shoulders to reassure her.

“I’m okay,” Em muttered.

“You will be,” said Rosemary, and Em was astounded to see a look of complete understanding on her face.

She gathered herself.

“Could I have some toast to go with that bacon and eggs, David?”

“Coming up!” he said and turned to the cooker.

Jen gave her a hug and stood up.

“Fifteen all,” Em murmured, and Rosemary gave her a delighted little nod.

***

April

Jen lay on her back bathing in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

“I don’t know what’s come over me.”

“I think it was me. Oh no, wait, you were on top last time so it can’t have been me.”

Jen chuckled. “Don’t be vulgar. I meant I seem to be in heat constantly. David doesn’t know how I find the time to do anything else seeing as I’m always in bed with one or the other of you.”

“You’re just a sex machine. I’m disappointed that you work for anyone else.”

Jen raised herself up on her elbow.

“You’re not, are you?”

“Not what?”

“Disappointed.”

“At having to share you with David? Of course, I am. I want to lock you away in a tower and ravish you all day and all of the night.”

Rosemary rolled her eyes at Jen’s expression.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. Of course, I’m joking. I’m just grateful that you can spare me any time at all you wonderful, gorgeous sexy bitch.”

Jen made a face. “I wish you wouldn’t talk like that.”

“You prefer it when I talk like I’ve got a plum in my mouth?”

Jen bridled. “You don’t have to use gutter language!”

Rosemary laughed. “You pompous cow!”

“I am not a pompous cow!”

“Are too. And I’m going to fuck you with my favourite toy until you can’t think of anything but ‘darling’ and ‘don’t stop!'”

“Rosemary!” Jen shrieked and the two of them rolled over and over until she lay panting underneath her lover, her arms pinned.

Rosemary leaned down and kissed her on the mouth and then worked her way down the line of her jaw and her neck until she was sucking one of Jen’s nipples. Jen arched her back and freed one of her hands to place it on Rosemary’s head.

“Rosemary?”

The other woman paused to look up at her. “What?”

“The dildo. Now.”

As Rosemary eased the toy inside her, melting at the way her lover’s cunt stretched to accommodate it, Jen gasped, “Sometimes I wish it was David instead of the dildo.”

“I know, but we talked about that. Much as I enjoy licking his hot, salty, cum out of your lovely, wet, cunt: no threesomes.”

Rosemary left little punctuating gaps between the important words and Jen writhed on the bed. Well brought up girls didn’t use words like ‘cum’ and ‘cunt’, but it gave her a shockingly illicit thrill when Rosemary did.

“You were going to make me say ‘darling’ and ‘don’t stop.'”

In reply Rosemary bent her head to where the dildo was mating with her girlfriend and licked her clit. Jen’s hand found its way to the dildo and pushed it all the way home. Her breath came in short pants.

“Fuck me, Rosie! Oh God, fuck me!”

Rosemary pumped Jen’s hole with the artificial cock and flicked her sensitive bean with her tongue until Jen screamed and thrashed on the bed.

She fought to stay on board as her lover rode the crest of her climax. When, finally, Jen relaxed, Rosemary knelt between her legs, extracted the toy from its intimate housing, and making sure that her lover was watching, proceeded to lick it clean.

Jen groaned, “You’re going to drive me insane; you know.”

Rosemary grinned. “Wait till I fuck you with the strap-on. You’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven. It’s a good job we’re not at your house or the neighbours would be phoning the police.”

“Or I could fuck you until you scream the place down,” Jen retorted.

“Yes,” admitted Rosemary. “Or we could fuck each other. Have you seen my double header?”

Jen’s eyes grew round. “Show me!”

Rosemary sniggered and scrambled off the bed. Digging under a pile of clothes in a drawer she produced a long, ribbed, bright red object, which she threw on to the bed next to Jen.

It was exactly as Rosemary had described, with a realistic phallus at either end.

“Oh my God! I have led a sheltered life! Do we…?” Jen faltered.

“Open your legs, darling,” Rosemary instructed and then crossed one of hers over Jen’s.

“This is what we’d do if we were going to scissor, but the double dong is better I find.”

Jen shook her head. “Scissor?”

“You rub clits, if you can,” Rosemary said, matter-of-factly.

“Doesn’t always work and then it’s a lot of huffing and puffing for not very much. Some women swear by it though. We could give it a try.”

“This is too much!” Jen exclaimed, slightly overwhelmed at all the images chasing through her head.

“Wait until you’ve got this beast inside you and I’m on the other end!” Rosemary smirked.

She slowly fed the red rubbery head into Jen’s dripping sex until about a third of it had disappeared inside her. Then she scooted forward and started to insert the dildo into her own opening. Jen watched wide-eyed as the distance between them narrowed to a couple of inches.

Rosemary did something and the toy moved inside her.

Jen started. “How did you do that?”

“What, this?” Rosemary grinned wickedly at her, and the toy moved again.

“Oh, Rosie! That’s sensational! How do I do it to you?”

After a couple of minutes, they settled into a rhythm, rocking backwards and forwards, the red jelly-like plastic slipping in and out, shiny with their mingled juices.

Jen grasped Rosemary’s hand, and pulled her closer, forcing the dildo deep inside both of them until their sex lips kissed around it.

Jen reached down and rubbed Rosemary’s clit and her partner retained enough presence of mind to return the favour. Suddenly they were both climaxing, jerking and shuddering, before falling back, exhausted, still joined by the dildo.

***

Enlargement

May

“The parties are finished,” Rosemary said.

“Really?” said David, in surprise, “I thought that was your thing.”

“It was. I’ve decided my talents, such as they are, need to be employed in the service of something different.”

David inclined his head. “That’s commendable. How are you on joining our house?”

Rosemary stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“You love my wife, don’t you?”

“Love?” she said, her manner suddenly uncertain.

He looked at her in mild amusement and she reddened. David could be unswerving in his determination to get to the truth of something.

“I suppose so.”

“Suppose so!” he laughed.

Indignant at his mockery, she snapped, “Yes! Yes, of course I love Jen.”

Rosemary put her hand to her mouth as she realised what she’d confirmed. A word that she’d not said to Jen, barely even admitted to herself, was out in the open.

David nodded in satisfaction and picked up another glass to polish. He looked sideways at her.

“So, let’s formalise things.”

“You’re married!”

“Semantics. You can keep a promise, can’t you?”

Rosemary struggled for control as for a moment she knew not where or what she was.

“Does Jen know you’re asking me this?”

David smiled an enigmatic smile. “No.”

Rosemary gasped, her hands to her face, all her defences in disarray. “What?”

“It’s your job to ask her, but you’ll do so in the certain knowledge that you won’t face any opposition from me. It’ll be good for her and whatever’s good for her is good for me and the children.”

He grinned at her.

“Say, how are you with children?”

She felt ready to burst like a balloon. She’d been played! And she didn’t mind at all! David’s children wouldn’t have any stupid genes.

Her breath stopped in her throat as she suddenly considered something she’d never contemplated before.

“What are you waiting for?” David asked.

Rosemary looked at him for a long moment and then ran from the room.

Em came into the kitchen and turned to look at Rosemary’s retreating figure.

“Where’s she off to in such a tearing hurry?”

David gave her a crooked smile.

“To ask Jen, in whatever cockeyed way, to marry her.”

Em was taken aback.

“That’s illegal, David!”

He laughed. “Not as in go to church and all that dressy up stuff, but as in vows and promises to Jen. And to me. I think Jen will say yes.”

Marjorie felt a tiny sense of unease.

“But what about us?”

He put down the glass he’d been polishing and walked over to her and took her in his arms.

“You know, for a clever woman, Em, you can be rather dense.”

She snuggled into his embrace.

“Don’t be rude, David. Explain yourself.”

“Well, I’m hardly going to ask Rosemary to become a Piper without putting the same question to you, am I?”

“I hoped you were going to say something of the sort.”

“Your answer being?”

“You haven’t asked me yet.”

David held her at arm’s length and became uncharacteristically serious.

“Marjorie, will you marry me?”

She considered him for a long moment with her head on one side. He returned her gaze steadily.

“To have and to hold,” he murmured.

She smiled. “For richer, for poorer?”

“And all the rest.”

“Yes, about that. Now might be a good time to mention that my period is three weeks late.”

“God!” he grumped. “More children!”

***

“So, what I’m trying to say…” Rosemary ground to a halt.

Jen had a pretty good idea what Rosemary was trying to say but wanted her to say it, to acknowledge it.

Out loud.

She inclined her head and tried to look encouraging.

Rosemary was scarlet. She put her head in her hands and mumbled something.

“You’ll have to repeat that,” Jen said, kindly.

Rosemary’s shoulders gave a great heave and she put her hands down into her lap, but her head stayed down, staring at the floor between her feet.

“I love you.”

Jen laughed. “That’s not news!”

Rosemary’s head came up. “What?”

“I see the way you look at me, you’re worse than a teenager! Even Mike Jarvis in sixth form didn’t swoon after me the way you do!”

“I do not swoon!” exclaimed Rosemary indignantly.

“You do so!” Jen replied. “Now, say it again.”

“Say what?”

“You know perfectly well what I mean, now say it and look me in the eye. I ought to make you get down on one knee.”

“I’m not fucking proposing to you!” Rosemary retorted, belatedly realising that that was pretty much what she’d said she would do scarcely five minutes before.

“Yes, you fucking are! You’re declaring your undying devotion. If the law allowed it, you’d ask me to marry you. Now stop prevaricating,” Jen said firmly and folded her arms.

To her amazement and delight, Rosemary sank to one knee and with bright eyes said, “I love you Jennifer Piper, and if it was within my gift, I would marry you with everything that entails.”

Jen pulled her lover to her feet.

“That’s one of the most romantic things anyone has ever said to me. Your offer is accepted.”

She tugged Rosemary close and kissed her.

A little while later, she rested her forehead against Rosemary’s and whispered, “Who would have thought the Ice Queen had a heart?”

Rosemary smiled lazily and ran her hands across Jen’s back.

“I should have hidden it in a jar in a remote cave, shouldn’t I? Then you’d have had to go on a quest to find it.”

“Ugh,” said Jen. “Don’t those stories usually end with someone dying horribly?”

“I seem to have found one with a happy ending,” Rosemary murmured.

“I’ll have to go and talk to David, of course,” Jen sighed.

“Don’t bother, he already okayed it.”

“He what!”

“He invited me to join the house as long as I asked you first.”

Jen was speechless for a moment and then whooped, grabbing Rosemary round the waist and whirling them round in circles. Rosemary shrieked and the two of them laughed in delight.

***

Jen’s fingers stole down her partner’s shoulder. Rosemary looked at them in wonder. Something she had thought she would need to take could be freely given.

She looked across at David who was holding Jen’s other hand. He glanced at her and smiled.

Rosemary laughed out loud, and Jen looked at her. There was an unfamiliar fluttering sensation inside her which she tentatively labelled as… joy.

“You bastard!” she shouted, careless of who might be listening.

David watched her in amusement and Jen chided her, “Rosie! The children might hear.”

The diminutive was the final straw. Only Jen, her Jen, called her that. She was ecstatic.

Em appeared at the door and looked at her in amazement.

“Rosemary! What on Earth?”

She looked somehow different and suddenly Rosemary put two and two together.

“You’re not!” she gasped.

Em dimpled and nodded. “Maybe. Just a little.”

“Holy Christ on a bike!” Rosemary exclaimed and ran around the table to take a startled Em in a huge hug.

David leaned in to Jen.

“I see you’ve worked your magic on another,” he whispered.

Jen sighed, “Oh David, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve being so happy.”

“And I’m going to have a baby!” Rosemary carolled joyfully.

“You are?” exclaimed the other three in chorus.

“Yes darling!” Rosemary seized Jen’s hands and spun her round.

“He doesn’t know it yet but he’s going to help us!”

“Who?” laughed Jen, baffled.

“David, of course! Who else?”

Jen and Em turned to look at David who raised his eyebrows and spread his hands out in a ‘don’t look at me’ gesture.

Rosemary let go of Jen only to turn to David and grab his hands in entreaty.

“Oh, say you will!”

David shook his head in amusement.

“Okay, I guess. If that’s what you really want.”

Rosemary turned back to Jen, while David and Em looked on.

Finding herself the focus of attention, Jen became slightly defensive.

“Why ask me?”

Rosemary looked down and said shyly, “Because it’ll be ours.”

Jen squealed and grabbed Rosemary by the shoulders. Rosemary hugged her tightly and the two of them jumped clumsily up and down.

Em put her arms round David and rested her head on his shoulder.

“In all my days I never thought to see myself here.”

He put his hand up to cradle her cheek.