Chapter 12: Twice the Fun

(No sex this chapter.)

I went to their apartment on Saturday, arriving a few minutes early. Faith met me at the door.

'Hello Mr. Sifreson, I'm Faith.' I took her proffered hand. 'Dee will be out in a moment.'

She appeared calm, but I could sense her broadcasting a nervous excitement when I held her hand. Twin empaths! Faith was trying to hold her emotions closely in check, 'I'm pleased to meet you, Faith. Call me Robert or Bob, if you will.'

She showed me into the living room of their apartment, and motioned for me to sit. I took a seat on a well-worn couch. Faith sat on the couch, at the other end.

'Uhm, Dee said she met you at the Center yesterday.'

Destiny came bouncing out of a bedroom from behind us. 'Yes, I did, sister mine.' She came and sat next to me on the couch, and looked from Faith to me. 'At first she wouldn't believe I had met you, and when I said you wanted to meet us today she almost fainted.' Smiling, she turned to her sister.

Faith was blushing, slightly. 'I did not! Dee just surprised me, that's all. I mean, you're the owner of the company and all. Why would you want to meet us today?'

I gave her my best disarming smile. 'That's a fair question, Faith. I wanted to meet you and Destiny away from work because I could sense something about your sister yesterday. And I wanted to meet you to see if it runs in the family.' They exchanged a worried look. 'Don't worry; your secret is safe with me. It does run in the family, doesn't it Faith?'

Faith had turned a little pale at my question, but Destiny answered. 'We don't know what you're talking about. I thought you were a nice man when I met you yesterday, now I just want you to leave!' She rose and walked towards the door. I could feel her trying to influence me to go away.

I smiled at her, and motioned for her to come back to the couch. 'Please, Destiny. I'm not here to hurt either of you. Actually, I'm here to ask you if you would like to meet my family.' I turned to Faith, who was now staring wide-mouthed at me. 'So how about it, would you like to come to New Mexico for a while? I'll take care of any arrangements that need to be made.' Both women stared at me in shock, unable to speak for the moment.

Faith was the first to answer. 'But why? I mean, if you know our *secret* like you say... '

'Faith! What are you... !'

Faith shot her sister a glance. 'Quiet, Dee. I could tell you were trying to get him to leave, and I'll bet Mr. Sifreson could too; so let's hear him out.' She turned back to me as her sister took a seat in a chair. 'Am I right?'

'Yes, I could tell. It won't have an influence on me, one way or another; but I could tell.' I turned to Destiny. 'You were caught off-guard, and were trying to protect yourself and your sister. Protecting your family is a noble thing, and is to be admired.' I could still feel her distrust, even across the room, but her curiosity was starting to win. 'You asked the reason why I wanted to find out more about you. The answer is simple. If I'm going to bring you into my family, I need to know if you will fit in.' I felt a jolt of surprise from both of them, and then they stopped broadcasting.

Both women were looking from me to the other, and I wondered if they were telepathic like other twins were supposed to be.

Destiny got up and knelt beside me, and then took my hand. 'You mean you were thinking of marrying me?' I could feel her mixed emotions strongly when she touched me.

'Actually, I had thought of marrying you both.' Then I smiled. 'A little vain of me, I guess. What do you think?'

Destiny looked in my face, then jumped up and threw her arms around my neck. I felt her relief wash over me, and hugged her back. Faith moved over next to me, and touched my leg.

'Do you really mean it?' I could just see her past Destiny's hair. 'You would marry us both?'

Destiny pulled back and sat next to me on the arm of the couch, looking intently at my face. 'It is conditional, but yes.'

Destiny asked. 'Conditional? What are the conditions?' The curtain had dropped on her emotions, again.

I took both their hands. 'That's why I want you both to come to New Mexico with me. Meet Laura and Mei Li, and see if you like them.'

'And see if they like us, as well.' Faith frowned.

'Yes. If we are going to be a family, we have to start out with just liking one another.' I turned from Faith to Destiny as I spoke. 'Both of you are very attractive, but I know nothing of your personalities. My instincts tell me to not let you get away, and I've come to trust my instincts.' I smiled. 'To be safe, however, we will get to know more about one another before making any final decision.'

Destiny stole a glance at her sister, some unheard information passing between them. Then she was intent on my eyes. 'I'm sorry about trying to make you go away. My sister and I have been worried someone would discover our hidden talent, and would want to exploit it. Since you already know about it, aren't you worried we would use it to influence your family to like us?'

My eyes stayed on hers. 'We have to start out with just liking one another. Building on that should be trust, and I'm going to show my trust by bringing you to meet my family. After you meet them I think you will like them. You truly have nothing to fear. You don't have to make a decision right now. Let's spend the afternoon together and see what you think after that. OK?'

Faith and Destiny then moved in and both hugged me. After they moved back, I asked; 'Are you ladies hungry? I'm past ready for some lunch, myself.'

We went to eat at a small Italian restaurant that had fresh calamari. The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing various sights around San Diego, finally ending up at the zoo.

We talked as we walked, and we exchanged information about our lives. The Bug had taken their father when they were only eight, their mother grieved still over his death. They first knew of their talent shortly after puberty, and decided to hide it from everyone. The twins decided they would stay together to help each other for as long as they could. The collection center seemed the perfect place to work and sparingly use their talent. They had both received individual proposals from clients, but I was the first to suggest that they both marry at the same time.

After eating a late supper, I returned them to their apartment. When they turned to me at the door, I took their hands and kissed each in the palm in turn. 'I'll call in the morning to get your decision. Sleep on it, and let me know if you are willing to take a chance with me.'

They looked at each other, and I was tempted to try to see if they were 'speaking' to one another, but didn't. They released my hands, and first Faith, then Destiny, came into my arms and kissed me, softly saying 'Goodnight.'

Back in my hotel room, I called home.