Chapter 21

"Ladies, I am treating you equally. I am expressing my tender appreciation of your individual beauty." He continued, "If you are going to bear my children, then caressing your breasts is a sign of what we shall do together, is it not?"

Euphemia gave in, and stopped objecting to his dual caress. "Perhaps so, but my body clock is trying to tell me it is early evening. Can you turn lunch into something more like dinner, Isabella my dear?" She patted Isabella's hand to show she was not demanding, just asking.

"Sure, we can do that." Isabella thought for a moment. "How about a bowl of soup, followed by pasta cheese, and we can open a tin of pear halves, plus ice cream from the freezer. Does that sound acceptable, Euphemia?"

"It sounds a delicious choice at such short notice, Isabella. I think we are going to get along together after all, my dear." Saying so, she pulled Ebenezer's hand to make him squeeze her breast. "Ebenezer, I think however that sustenance is more urgent than any sex antics you may have in mind."

He grinned. "I quite accept that decision, ladies. I am available for any aspect of food preparation that you desire of me. Let's get this show on the road."

The three of them settled down to a meal, and the ladies continued to chat amicably over the food. Ebenezer as far as possible stayed out of the discussion. He waited until the end of the meal, when the clearing up was in progress, to raise another point.

"Ladies, we have not discussed bedroom accommodation. In recent months, Isabella has shared my bedroom, and now Euphemia is here. I would like your opinion on the bedroom decisions for tonight – just so that I know where I am regarding you two."

Isabella was quick to respond. "I intend to remain in your bedroom, Ebenezer. That is the situation we have established, and I don't intend to be moved out, for any reason." She looked to Euphemia for a response to the implied challenge. Euphemia saw the way things were going, and accepted the inevitable, but put in her own dig.

"Any time Ebenezer has visited me, we shared a bed, and I see no reason to think otherwise today."

Ebenezer smiled to himself. "Thank you, ladies. It seems you both intend to spend the night with me, so I shall not interfere with that definitive arrangement. I do insist, though, that you recognise that whatever choice I make as to whom I embrace first, has no bearing on any assumed preferential treatment. There will be no preferential approach by me. Both of you are my loves, and both of you have my respect. I will make no statement or action that implies that one of you is more loved and respected than the other. I view you both as equal partners with me in our presumed marriage. Is that clear to both of you?"

He saw a reluctance from each of them, so made it personal. "Isabella, do you agree with my point?" She nodded. "Yes, dear." He moved to Euphemia. "Euphemia, do you agree with my point?" She allowed a moment of indecision, then acquiesced, "Yes, dear."

"Very well. Let us go on with our discussions, then later we can go to bed together and see how we blend together as a family. I do intend for us to be a family. I want to be proud of my two ladies, my two loves."

That night, Ebenezer welcomed his two women to his wide bed. He realised he would have to get an even wider bed for such occasions, but recognised that normally one or other of his women would be with him. This first occasion was unusual, so he got them both to undress, and positioned them, one on either side of him. He had an arm round each, and proceeded to kiss each in turn. He persuaded them both to grasp his erect penis together, and the experience of meeting each other's hand in this circumstance was unnerving. They both recoiled at the touch, then crept back, and found the other there again. Ebenezer declared. "Please share in pleasuring my penis, girls. It will later be in each of you, so make it happy to think of that plan."

He gradually got them to move closer, while he moved to be above them. After playing with their breasts and nipples for some time, he moved between Euphemia's legs, checking by hand that she was receptive. He slowly inserted his member, until it was fully home. Euphemia tried to get him to move faster, but he deliberately withdrew, moved to Isabella, and performed the same action with her.

Having established his dominance, he began to switch back and forth, pumping into Euphemia for a while, then into Isabella. He didn't care who he would be in when he spurted, but it happened to be Euphemia. He made a point of then returning to Isabella, to ensure that both had experienced at least one orgasm.

Once he felt they were both satisfied, he returned to lying between them, and put his arms around them both, and cuddled them to him. "Girls, you are wonderful partners. Tomorrow, we shall find out whether Euphemia agrees with me, and decides to be part of our marriage. I hope you will, Euphemia, my love, and I hope that Isabella feels the same way." No one replied, and they all were asleep soon afterwards.

In the morning, the three of them got up, stiff after a night of the girls wrapped around Ebenezer. Euphemia was thinking, and so was a trifle distracted. Isabella noticed, and asked, "Are you feeling okay, Euphemia? You don't seem quite yourself yet."

"Oh, no, Isabella, I am fine. I was thinking about my work. Would Ebenezer be able to care for us both if I gave up my work? That is my concern."

"Oh, so it is not me that is the problem for you?"

"No, Isabella. I have decided I can live with you in my life. Now I am concerned with the economics of a triple marriage."

"Let's discuss that with Ebenezer, then. I find I can talk to him about most matters: perhaps not all, but most."

They found him in the kitchen, making toast for the breakfast. "Do you girls want a fried breakfast, or cereal? I am easy with any option."

Isabella changed the subject. "Ebenezer, Euphemia is concerned about losing the income from her job, if she joined us here. Any thoughts on that?"

"I have considered that matter, from time to time," he said. "We would have some difficulties at certain times of the year, when there is no income coming from farm produce. It would mean doing without buying new clothes, for instance. However, I had another thought, and asked the Personalia what the time lag would be between a diplomatic conference on Earth, and our home on Rehome. It seems that while the time lag is miniscule, it does not allow for simultaneous translation such as you normally do, Euphemia."

Euphemia gawked at the idea. "You were actually considering me doing simultaneous translation from another planet?"

Ebenezer nodded, sagaciously. "The time lag is only a signal up to orbit around Earth, then through subspace to a Person in orbit around Rehome, then down to the ground. Orbit to ground is just a few hundred miles, so a short distance at both ends. The time in subspace is infinitesimal as well, so very short overall. The return signal is just as fast, but in total is still not quite as fast as doing the translating in the venue.

My question to them made them consider doing the translation by themselves, but they came up against the problem of meaning as opposed to translating the words. You translators have to turn what is said into another language, while retaining the exact meaning conveyed in the original language. Correct?"

Euphemia agreed. "Yes. One often has to turn a colloquial phrase into another which conveys the same intent, even if the words used are different. For example, "Quel dommage!" If translated word for word, would be "what damage!", but it actually means "what a pity!" or "What a shame!"; but "Quel malheur" also translates as "what a pity", or "how unfortunate!", so there is seldom direct one-to one correlation with languages."

Ebenezer mused, "What about translating texts? That doesn't require the same immediacy."

Euphemia was interested. "Yes, I could do that, I suppose. Why? Do you have work prospects already?"

"In a way. The Personalia have lots of contracts for financial auditing on Earth, and they sounded interested when I asked them about translations. It seems that some of their clients speak languages other than English, as a first language, and for an audit report, they have to do it in English because they did not have good translation facilities available. They wondered if you might be engaged as a consultant, to turn an English audit report into French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and so on."

"Mmmm ... that sounds possible," murmured Euphemia. My range of languages is limited, mainly European; but perhaps we can find other people to team up with for the other languages."

In the Defreitas household, the births were rapidly approaching, and Annabel was already in the maternity hospital for supervision of her impending twins. Trevor had made sure that each of the girls had a "ready bag" prepared, should they have to be rushed to the hospital for any complications that might arise. The girls had asked George Montford to be prepared to step in and help around the house, should Trevor have to go with one of them to a birth. They reckoned their father was an old hand at impending births, and would remain steady and do all the tasks that most new fathers would be afraid to be asked to do.

He called round after tea one evening, to familiarise himself with the laundry equipment, and where everything was located in the Defreitas home. Even Amelia was impressed at George's calmness. "You'll be fine, taking care of Mum when she is ready to pop, George."

"I hope so, Amelia. Your mother is a wonderful woman, but she will probably just lie there and issue instructions for me to obey!"