Chapter 35

We were home in half an hour, I opened the gate while Jenny carefully parked the Bentley.

Inside the house was in darkness, the only light was from the many candles marking a path through the hallway, there was just enough light to see the floor was strewn with rose petals.

“Oh my gosh, what have they been doing?” Jenny whispered.

“Take your coats and shoes off at the door,” Katie called out, “we’ll put them away.”

We did as we were asked, then Jenny took my hand as we walked along the rose path to the dining room.

“Oh my, this is romantic,” Jenny cried as she saw the table set for two.

The room was again lit only with candles, lots and lots of candles.

“Where did you get all the candles?” I asked.

“We borrowed them off Helen,” Poppy answered, “although I’m not sure borrow is the right word, we can’t really let her have them back when they’re all used up.”

Belle stood behind Jenny and slid her chair back as she reached the table, Jenny thanked her as she sat down.

“This isn’t my cutlery, or my crockery...” I commented as I sat down unaided.

“Ahh, they’re from next door,” Katie said, “we decided your knives and forks weren’t fancy enough for tonight, so whilst Belle and Poppy were cooking I went round the neighbours to see if I could borrow some.”

“I can’t remember the last time I spoke to the people next door,” I said quietly.

“They’re really nice, Mrs Carboddy was very happy to hear you were engaged. She was very curious about your new family and would be happy to have us all over one evening. I assured her we’re all house trained.”

“Ok, and there’s me worried about the neighbours when I first brought Poppy here and now they’re inviting us over. I’ll pop by tomorrow and thank her for the invite.”

“Ok, no more chatting now,” Belle said as Poppy started some music playing on the speakers, “are you ready for the starter?”

“I’m starving,” Jenny said, “I’ve only had a bag of crisps since breakfast at 6 this morning.”

“Well, we’ll soon make up for that. I hope you like the starter, it’s a bit experimental.”

Belle dashed away with Poppy, Katie stayed to pour our wine.

“Where are you eating?” Jenny asked.

“We’ll eat in the kitchen, although we’ve been sampling the food all day, so we’re not that hungry.”

“This is fantastic wine,” I offered, placing my glass down as Poppy carefully positioned my plate before me, turning it a little so it was just right.

“I present your starter,” Belle announced, “Lancashire black pudding served with potato and apple puree.”

Jenny’s eyes went wide, “I’ve never had black pudding before.”

“Neither had I,” Katie laughed, “but it really is fantastic, especially with the potato.”

I looked at my plate, three generous slices of lean black pudding, dressed with piped potato and apple puree, it looked amazing.

I cut a piece of the black pudding and spread some of the potato on it, everyone watched as I lifted it to my mouth. Nobody breathed as I ate it, chewing it deliberately slowly as they waited for my verdict.

“Well?” Jenny asked.

“It’s fantastic, whose idea was it?”

“I remembered the black pudding at breakfast,” Belle said, “how it was really tasty even though it sounded gross, so I looked at some restaurant menus for posh ideas, and I saw this one. Helen got me the black pudding from the butchers near her house and brought it round, she says it’s won awards.”

“The potato puree is amazing.”

“Thank you, Poppy cut the potatoes up really small so they boiled properly, there’s farmhouse butter and cream in it, with a little bit of mixed spice. Anyway, enjoy it, I’m just going to start plating up the main course.”

Belle slipped out, followed by her sisters, we were alone.

Jenny used her napkin to wipe a tear from her eye, “this is all so wonderful. They’ve worked so hard,” she said as she cut off a small piece of her black pudding. She tentatively forked it into her mouth, nodding her head as she chewed it, “well, that’s a surprise, really tasty.”

We enjoyed the starter in silence, even going so far as to wipe up the remaining mash with our fingers, like Belle when she’s being polite, rather than licking the plate.

“Adding the apple to the mash was a work of genius,” I told Belle as she came back to clear our plates away.

“Not my idea, did it work ok though. Some people hate lumpy mash, so I mashed it in the blender.”

“It was fantastic,” Jenny said, “I’ve not had black pudding before, and I loved it, and the mash was perfect, I really liked the apple flavour.”

“I’m so glad, I was really worried about serving you black pudding, Poppy said it would be fine, but she’s never had it either, so what does she know?”

“Has she had some now?” Jenny asked.

“Oh yes, we’ve all had some now,” Belle replied as she took Jenny’s plate, “Oh wow, have you licked this clean?”

“Err, no, but I wiped it clean with my finger, it was so good.”

“Thank you, that’s all the compliment I needed,” Belle said as she left the room.

“How did our little girl cook that so well?” Jenny asked.

“The same way she spoke for 10 minutes to a roomful of strangers without notes, it’s not just Poppy that’s a superhero.”

“Once more I’m left thanking my lucky stars that it was me on the callout rota that night, or we’d never have met.”

“You’re not the only one, I’m not sure how I’d have managed with three girls, especially with the traumas of the last few days.”

We reached out and held hands as we waited for our main course, which arrived a couple of minutes later on a trolley.

“I don’t remember owning a serving trolley,” I queried.

“Well, it’s lucky Mr Newbold at number 24 has one then isn’t it.” Katie stated as she placed a couple of warm plates on the table.

Poppy had a basket of warm bread rolls, she placed it on the table as Katie brought a dish of roast potatoes and parsnips, and a dish of steamed veg. Poppy added a plate of Yorkshire puddings and a gravy boat as Belle walked in with a plate of sliced beef.

“I was going to slice it at the table, but I was so nervous I suspected I’d have an accident, so I’ve just done it in the kitchen with nobody watching. Mr Newbold helped me work out how long to cook the beef, and he brought a carving knife and sharpener, I felt like a proper chef just then.”

I couldn’t help but smile at Belle, she looked so happy as we filled our plates with meat and veg.

“There’s more meat and gravy if you want seconds, Katie made me buy half a cow this morning. I’ve no idea how she carried it home, it was so heavy.”

“Have you got food,” I asked the girls.

“Oh yes, we filled plates before we brought yours in,” Poppy replied.

“Bring them in here then, come and join us,” Jenny told them.

“But this is your special day,” Belle replied.

“It is, and it’s special because of you three, so bring your food in here and all the leftovers, and we’ll have a family feast.”

I’ve never seen them move so quickly, within seconds they were back with plates piled high.

Belle sat next to me, Katie and Poppy sat on Jenny’s side of the table. Soon we were tucking into the fantastic main course they’d put together.

“This beef is perfectly cooked,” I told Belle as she piled some beef, potato and carrot onto her fork.

“And the Yorkshires are amazing, did you find a recipe?” Jenny added.

Belle chewed her food for a moment, “oh man, it is nice isn’t it!” she said as she finished, “it’s lucky Mr Newbold came round when he did, I’d worked out how long to cook the meat, so I was going to do it at the end, so it would be hot. He told me that was not the best way to do it, because the meat needed to stand for about an hour before I carved it, and that I needed to start it at one temperature then turn it up really, really hot for the last 15 minutes. He also rubbed some flour into the meat to make the crackly crust, and he showed me how to make the Yorkshire puddings.”

“That is lucky,” Jenny replied as she filled her fork, “this is a great meal.”

“Do you want to know the best bit?” Poppy asked, a huge smile on her face.

“Mr Newbold is the Food Technology teacher at school,” Katie told us.

“And guess who’s now doing Food Technology when she starts school on Monday,” Poppy added.

“Me!” Belle cried, holding her fork high triumphantly.

“Are you still doing Textiles?” I asked.

“Oh yes! Mr Newbold thinks he can fit me into his Year 10 GCSE class, which is when I should be doing Spanish.”

“That’s great,” Jenny said, “you didn’t want to do languages did you.”

“No, I’d be so far behind everyone it would be embarrassing. Mr Newbold asked me loads of questions, he’s really pleased about how much I know already, and how excited I was, well we were all excited, about cooking this fancy meal.”

“I’ve lived here over five years, and had no idea he’s a teacher, let alone a teacher at your school. You already know more about my neighbours than I do. How many did you speak to?”

“Me and Poppy only spoke to Mr Newbold, it was Katie who knocked on doors.”

“I went four doors either side. A couple of people weren’t in, well, it’s Saturday, so what did I expect. One guy had no clue who you were, he was just house sitting for his brother. The lady at no 16 seemed a bit sad when I told her why I was calling, I think maybe she fancies you...”

“Who’s that?” Jenny asked, mock shocked.

“I’ve no idea,” I replied.

“She’s tall and slim with obviously fake boobs, bleached hair, a bit brassy looking.”

“She sounds lovely,” Belle laughed.

“Ahh, that’s probably Theresa, a proper gold digger. She tried it on with me one day when I was outside the cafe in the park.”

“So we can take her off the wedding guest list.” Jenney laughed.

“Maybe she could come with Mr Newbold.” I suggested.

“Noooo!” Katie cried, “he’s nice, we can’t do that to him.”

“I think he might be gay,” Belle whispered.

“How do you know, you only just met him,” Katie asked, “I had his lessons for one term in Year 8, he never struck me as gay.”

“Look at Poppy,” Belle said in answer, so we did.

“So?” Katie asked.

“He didn’t,” Belle told us, “he said hello, but that’s all. Poppy’s extra pretty today with her hair in buns, you did her makeup so well this morning Katie and look at her cleavage, how could anyone ignore that? Yeah, I think Mr Newbold is either immune to pretty girls because he’s been teacher at a girls’ school for so long, or he’s gay.”

“Mmm, ok, maybe, but if he’s not out it’s best to leave it that way,” Jenny cautioned Belle.

“Oh yeah, I’m not going to tell anyone, and Katie is so right, he’s really nice.”

We continued to eat in silence, Belle cleared her plate first, I tipped my plate her way and saw Jenny smile as Belle helped herself to my last roast potato.

“There’s more beef if anyone wants some,” Poppy announced as she finished the last of her meal.

“I’m stuffed,” I replied.

“Me too,” Jenny agreed, “save it for tomorrow, we’ll make up some sandwiches when we go looking for Lia.”

“So we’re really going to look for her tomorrow?” Katie said, a note of real excitement in her voice.

“Oh yes, I said we would, and you did say she’d be good to work for the charity.”

“Oh yes, definitely, but I thought dad said he didn’t want any more people in the house?”

“Well, maybe he’s changed his mind, or maybe he said no more children, Lia’s 18, she’s an adult, and maybe she’ll only be staying a few days, or she won’t even want to stay at all. We’ll leave it all up to her and see what she wants to do if we manage to find her.”

“Oh yes, of course. It’ll be nice to see her again.”

Poppy and Belle took the empty plates away and came back with a fresh bottle of wine.

“I made a dessert, spiced apple pie with custard, we cheated and bought the custard, the pasty is home made though, Katie rolled it. I guess we can leave it until later.”

“Yes, we’ll have it later, for now, why don’t we move into the lounge and we can watch a film.”

I helped Belle stack the dishwasher whilst the others picked a film, “that meal was amazing Belle, thank you so much.”

“Did you really enjoy it?”

“Every single mouthful.”

Belle visibly relaxed with the news, “thank you, I’ve never done anything like this before. Poppy and Katie helped, but they’d never cooked a proper meal before either, so we were all really worried. I was so glad when Mr Newbold arrived and he showed me where I was about to go horribly wrong.”

I put an arm around her shoulders, “you are amazing Belle, even if you’d waited until the end to cook the beef it would have been OK, we’d have just had to wait a bit before you carved it, that wouldn’t have been a disaster.”

“Thanks dad, you’re always so kind to us all.”

“It’s nothing less than you deserve.”

With the dishwasher stacked we gave the kitchen a quick clean, they’d kept the place remarkably tidy while they cooked and we only needed to wipe down the worktops and sweep the floor.

Ten minutes later we were finished and we took the rest of the wine into the lounge.

Jenny, Katie and Poppy were on one sofa, so I took an armchair and Belle sat on the arm, snuggling up as close as she could.

“What are we watching?” Belle asked.

“Black Widow,” Poppy replied as Jenny worked the remote to dim the lights and turn on the TV and sound system.

“Oh great, I’ve been dying to watch this, it’s got Florence Pugh in it, I love her.”

Belle enjoyed the movie so much she slid down and sat in my lap. Half way through Poppy paused it and warmed up the apple pie and custard, Belle offered to help but Poppy told her she looked far too comfortable to move.

They’d left the pie in the warming oven, so Poppy was back in a few minutes with four plates on a big tray, “you two get to share,” she told us as she handed Belle a plate with a double portion of pie and custard and two spoons.

Belle handed a spoon back to Poppy, “we only need one spoon, I’ll feed dad.”

The pie was great, I got three spoonfuls before Belle decided she would eat the rest herself.

“Wow,” I said, “based on the small amount I’ve been allowed, that really is a tasty piece of pie.”

“Thanks dad,” Belle replied, “I love the custard, Katie picked it, it’s got Madagasan vanilla beans in it, which is apparently a good thing.”

“It’s a very good thing,” Jenny replied, “and this is the perfect dessert to end a perfect meal.”

Katie put her hand up, “I vote that Poppy and I swap all our cooking chores for Belle’s cleaning chores.”

“That’s not fair,” Jenny said, “it’ll mean she cooks three dinners a week and breakfast all weekend.”

“That’s OK, because it means I do no cleaning, and I’ll get to practice stuff I learn at school, and all those recipes we read Poppy, I can make them.”

“Oh yes, and I could help,” Poppy added.

“I’m not taking any choses back if you help,” Belle laughed.

“That’s OK, I’ve found out I like cleaning and ironing.”

Katie restarted the film and we were quiet for another hour.

Well, I say quiet, Belle cheered every time Florence Pugh’s character Yelena was on screen.

When the film ended Belle and Poppy chatted for a few minutes about what they’d just seen, and how the post credits scene would map across to other films in the franchise.

“It’s to do with the TV series,” Poppy insisted.

“What TV series?”

“The new Hawkeye series, it’s starting next year, and Yelena is one of the main characters.”

“Next year, I’ve got to wait until next year to see her again?”

“We can watch this again tomorrow if you want,” Poppy replied soothingly.

“Oh please, I love her so much, she was so funny, and so gorgeous, and tiny boobs like me. Can we go to ComicCon next year if she’s there, please Poppy, can we go.”

“If she’s there then I’ll take you,” Poppy replied.

“Amazing, thank you so much, you’re the best sister ever.”

“Ok, now that’s settled, let’s go to bed and give mum and dad some time together.”

“No, it’s ok, stay a while,” Jenny said softly.

“But it’s your special night mum,” Katie replied.

“It is, but you know, it feels like you three play just as important a role in our engagement. Poppy, you brought me and Alex together, without you, I wouldn’t be here, and without you, Katie wouldn’t be here, and without Katie, Belle wouldn’t be here, and ultimately, without Alex, none of this would have happened. So you see, we’re all entangled, I asked your dad to marry me this morning, but really, we’re marrying you all.”

“Ok,” Poppy replied, “so what do we do now?”

“It’s Saturday,” Jenny replied simply.

“But don’t you, you know, want to be with Alex?”

“No silly, I want to be with you all.”

“Ahh, I see...” Poppy replied, grinning as she started to undress.

“Who’s doing who?” Belle asked.

“Ahh, now I’m glad you asked that, Belle. Your dad showed me a video before...”

“Ohh, was it from the hotel?”

“Yes, and I’d like you to do the same to me.”

“Really! Oh my god, I got so horny doing this to Amber.”

Belle jumped down and ran to the drawer by the HiFi system where we kept the lube. As we made love in every room we kept lube in every room, just in case.

“You’re getting extra lucky Alex, you can have Poppy and Katie tonight.”

“Ahh, don’t take this the wrong way dad, but I’ll stick with mum if that’s ok. Sex with you was fun and everything, but it helped me make my mind up, and I’m firmly in the sex with girls camp now.”

“That’s absolutely fine Katie,” I replied, “at no point should anyone ever do anything they don’t feel comfortable doing.”

“Thanks dad, I don’t mind doing stuff in bed, like it was really fun giving you a hand job that time, but I worry if I get really horny I might do something I’ll regret, and right now I’m really horny, so I think I’ll play with mum and Belle.”

Poppy, now down to just her panties, kissed Katie passionately, “have fun with Belle, I think she’s ready for anal play with a dildo if you’re careful.”

“I wish I was ready, I just don’t feel brave enough to try it.”

“Then don’t try it, you’ll get no pressure from me, the absolute worst thing you can do is try it when you’re not ready, you’ll hurt yourself.”

Katie pulled Poppy into a tight hug, “everyone is so nice to me here, I’m so glad you let me move in.”

They kissed again, then Poppy knelt astride me on the armchair, draping her arms over my shoulders in the exact same way Belle did in the park.

“Do you want some music,” I asked.

“No, it’s ok, I bet Belle didn’t need music.”

“She managed just fine without.”

Poppy leant in close and nibbled my ear, “she had a great teacher,” she whispered, low and sultry.

She started to grind on my lap, “did Belle tell you the rules?”