Chapter 4

Tracy appeared to be in serious thought, while Dinah simply beamed and responded, "As long as I am married to Trevor, I don't care who else gets to fuck him. You will always love me, Trevor, won't you?"

"You will always have my love, little one; be assured of that. I am pretty certain I can love all four of you. I already feel that love: I don't know why. I just do. I have never felt like this before, but I am delighting in it. Give us some time to cement our relationship, and I think it can work."

"Show me, Trevor," said Dinah. "Take me out to the caravan right now, and make love to me, without any drug, to show me that you truly love me."

"Amelia?" Trevor spoke to his first love. "Is that okay with you? If this multiple marriage is ever going to happen, you are the senior wife in the family, so your opinion counts."

"Go ahead, Trevor. She is doing nothing with you that she hasn't done already, and if your love is strong enough for all of us, be prepared to show it to her." She waved the pair of them towards the door, surprised at her own attitude. They exited, to knowing smiles from the experienced Kempe women.

In the caravan, Dinah energetically stripped herself, and assisted Trevor in the shedding of his own clothes. She pulled him towards one of the bunks, then put her arms round him, pressing her breasts to his bare flesh. She felt his organ become tumescent, and she smiled to herself. Looking up at his face, she said, slyly, "Trevor, darling, if I marry you, and have your baby, you won't send me back to school, will you?" She fingered his member as she spoke.

Trevor was not diverted by Dinah's scheming. "Dinah, my love, all of you who want to become my wives, ALL of you, will be properly educated citizens, so that my children will have mothers I can depend on to give my children the right start in life; the start that I, as a teacher, want for them. That is what I am laying down as a rule of my family. You must agree to that to be my wife, even before I make love to you here and now."

She sighed. "Given that stark choice, Trevor my man, I have to agree to your terms. Now kiss me for a start." She ran her hands down his lower back and over his buttocks, shivering in anticipation. He kissed her lips tenderly, then moved his mouth to her nipples, to give them a kiss, then a suck. He stood back, then lifted her to the bunk, laying her on her back. He then slowly transferred his attention down her body to her crotch, in easy stages, while she in her turn played with his penis, to keep it erect and ready for her.

Their eventual conjoining was just a satisfying as before, and Dinah declared to him, "Trevor, my darling man, I am yours forever if you truly desire me."

"I do, Dinah, my lovely girl. You will make a wonderful wife for me, There is nothing to stop Mrs Dinah Defreitas from proudly going to school with her big belly. You will be the envy of every other girl there. Now, if you have finished with me for the moment, can I suggest we get dressed and return to the party?"

Back in the Mansion, the discussion continued. Trevor spoke worryingly to Bob Kempe. "Governor, sir, my schoolhouse is not built for a man with four wives. I will either have to rebuild it to accommodate a larger family, or find an alternative job where a larger house becomes possible."

"Practical as ever, you are, young man. You have hit the nail on the head. I don't think you could, or should, remain in that village post. If Mary is in a position to offer you a better-paying job, based in Metropolis, you may wish to take over one of the larger accommodations in Metropolis. All these flats and houses are rented from the Colony, as this makes the occupants more readily mobile, so you don't need to lay out a large sum at the start. You may wish to purchase or build a suitable house at a later stage, but this would tide you over."

"That sounds a good idea, sir. Are you serious about that job, Mrs Kempe; sorry, ... Mary?

Mary smiled at him. "One of the hazards of multiple spouses, Trevor. You have to forget the title of Mrs, as it no longer has the individual resonance it once had. You have to use the forename and married surname with strangers, and simply the forename in private. So Mary is fine; you are not being forward; and yes, I am serious. What I and my business partner, Pam Humbert, are now trying to set up was originally envisaged as a courier service based on our need for empty bags going out to agents, and full bags of herbs returning, but it is now perhaps more correctly a parcel service throughout the colony. It might become big business in this community. It would allow people to send things from one location to another for a reasonable price, and I have been offered a temporary monopoly to get it up and running efficiently.

It is a complicated structure to set up, and we have come to the conclusion that to simplify it, we must have a central sorting depot in Metropolis. The parcels would be travelling by train to or from the relevant outlying rail stations. There they would be collected by local agents and held at a local office for collection.

The agent would phone the recipient to say, "Your parcel is here, ready to collect". We want to use personal phones for identifying the senders and receivers, with the phone ID codes printed on to the parcel, as well as the recipient's address. The recipient would bring their phone, to prove who they were and collect the parcel. With all that, it will need a well educated person to run this operation. We have not yet identified who that CEO might be."

Trevor expressed his interest in the concept. "I like the idea. It sounds a lot like the old postal services on Earth, but you now have to restrict it to parcels. In other words whatever cannot be sent by phone. That would encompass birthday presents, Christmas gifts, legal documents, business contracts for signing, mail shots and catalogues from companies. The parcels service might act as a distribution network for local businesses getting their supplies in.

Wait a minute: how would mailshot companies know the individual names and addresses? We are not set up that way in the villages.That aim would be better served by having the mailshots, and store catalogues, going to the local agent's office for collection by anyone who wants one, and handed out by him to each person who comes in to collect parcels, or to those delivering bags of herbs and truffles – I presume the truffles would also go by this new service?"

Mary murmured, "Quite right. It would be the cheapest method for the Colony to collect the truffles. I must mention this advantage to the Colony Admin department. Trevor, I think you are talking yourself into a job!"

Annabel queried, "What did you envisage me doing, Mary?"

"The business will require a degree of administrative control, so I see you as the central administrator, the kingpin of internal arrangements. The local staff have to be paid on time, but preferably direct to their bank; the railway journeys have to be accounted for, unless Trevor can negotiate an annual fee for them all.

You may want to arrange a bonus payable to agents for increasing their local throughput, as local publicity will be essential in an environment without professional advertising. You will have to ensure that supplies of collecting bags are available, are sent out timeously to local agents, and are replaced as they are used. That could be controlled by a computer program tallying the bag usage from each agent – the number of bags arriving at the depot from a stated agent, related to his known stock.

Your bags will require to be printed with the company name, and with an injunction to neither bring half-filled bags nor overfill them, which would crush the leaves. The bag may need reinforcement to prevent such crushing; say a plastic ring every five centimetres, that would lie flat in the empty bag, but when swivelled would lock to the other side of the bag. You would have to work closely with Trevor on all these matters, and more. There is the hiring and firing of agents and collectors; deciding what constitutes a sackable offence; consideration of what fee per bag is fair for your collectors, relating this to the price that your Earth purchasers are willing to pay for your herbs. You have to know exactly what your cost is, per bag, and of all the other expenditure you face.

You can see that there are many matters open to discussion and decision, if the company is to be run well and also profitably. Are you capable of this sort of work, or would you prefer to go to University? Until we start our own university, that might mean going back to Earth and being separated from Trevor, if you still want to marry him."

"mmmmm ... I think that the first option has more appeal. I can see that as a worthwhile job which would allow me to remain close to Trevor. I do NOT fancy returning to Earth for University, though I would not be averse to studying on Rehome, if you could arrange distance learning. If it was possible, I might do a management degree in my spare time, in between loving Trevor and possibly looking after my baby, if I have one on the way."

Trevor softly voiced his approval of the concept.

Mary resumed her talk to the girls. "Tracy, you seemed averse to school. As you are already sixteen, you might consider going to school part-time, and study catering for the rest of the time, with me as your tutor. Someone has to become the chef for such a large family, and it is best that the person be properly trained. I know that Amelia fancies herself as a cook, but I see her as the standby, when you are not available."

She went on with a pause, "Amelia, as a more experienced local, I see you as a roving hitman. By that, I mean going out and about, looking for new sources of the herb Comfort, and trying to find other herbs which might also have a market on Earth. This you could do in conjunction with your tourist guiding, as you would be visiting many places through that job. There is always time off for a guide, while the tourists explore particular sites. You would be paid a regular small retainer, and gain bonuses for every new collector you added to our network, and a BIG bonus for any new herb you discovered, provided it was commercially viable. I expect the Colony would also pay you for pressed examples of new plant species found by you.

That is the sort of business activity that I would hope to see from you girls, should you decide to form a permanent family. As Ruth and Helen have already pointed out, you need to get some practice living together before you embark on marriage. Trevor, I am sure, will be happy to fuck you regularly in the meantime, so that you get used to sharing his amours.

Comments, girls?"

The four of them were sitting there, awestruck. They had been told that Mary was the top chef on Rehome, but they had no idea she had such vision as a businesswoman. They also were completely unprepared for her suggestions for their future employment.

It was Trevor who responded first.

"Mary, I am somewhat taken aback by your business acumen. You did mention something about MREs. I always understood that to be American Forces battlefield ration packs. Were you talking about something different?"

Mary smiled sweetly at Trevor. "No, you are quite correct, Trevor. MREs are regarded by the U.S. troops as too much of a muchness, so I have worked to devise a means of varying the contained menu. Each new pack would have the basic part, the main ingredient, of a dish – the meat, or rice, or whatever, but I worked out flavouring packets to be selected by the troops. By selecting the flavouring you want, you can have a basic stew, a curried stew, one high in salt, or low in salt, and so forth. Effectively, your choice of flavouring sachets will determine what meal you actually eat. Every man can have his own menu, formulated on the basic choices plus flavour sachets. For my ideas and recipes for the flavourings, I get a small royalty per pack, and this ends up as several million dollars per year.

That is how I would be able to set up a Maintenance Fund to help support a growing family, until you are earning enough as a family to support yourselves. I am not offering a permanent financial crutch, merely a stopgap to help you start. My income also gives me sufficient capital to put together the parcels service."

Bob was now prepared to step in. "As for a home, I have consulted with my Admin Department, and we can offer you a suitably sized house in Metropolis, where you can discover what it is like to live as a man with four women. I got broken to it gently, over time, with considerable assistance and advice from Diane, but you, Trevor, are faced with the whole shebang in one go. Keeping four women happy is not easy, I assure you. Making love to them sometimes means two or three wives in your bed, occasionally more, so you have to make sure your loving is not unbalanced: no favourites, my boy. If you love them all, you have to show without fear or favour that you love them all, individually and collectively.

As for you girls, you must by now be aware that in a multiple marriage, you cannot have your husband making love to you as often as you might wish. It can help if you can manage to appreciate girl-on-girl loving when you are deprived of your husband's bed. I leave that for you to consider. My wives will be happy to advise on that matter, from experience.

I find that having children helps considerably in meshing everyone together as a family group. Sharing the child-minding tasks helps my wives share in the whole business of being a family, so I would encourage you girls to think of bearing children if you are sticking with Trevor. I make a point of bonding with my children, from the time they are infants. A real man must be prepared to roll on the floor with his babies, tickling them, cuddling them and otherwise making them happy to be with their Daddy. Genuine fatherhood includes learning to change dirty, smelly, nappies, I warn you! When they get older, it can be fun building structures with plastic bricks, or playing children's games, from Ludo to draughts (checkers for you Americans)."

Bob looked around at everyone, and continued, "We have enjoyed a fine meal, courtesy of Mary, and some fine wine, courtesy of Rehome's vineyards, and a fair degree of fascinating conversation. However, time is getting late, so I would – sorry, apologies to my ladies - WE would be delighted if you would stay the night here in our guest bedrooms. They were planned with this sort of occasion in mind."

The guests looked over at the Governor's wives, who simply nodded their approval. Bob went on, "The bedrooms are adjacent to each other, but are limited in number, though they all have double beds. Accordingly, we would propose that Trevor goes in one room, and the four girls share the other two. We shall leave it to yourselves, AS A FAMILY, to determine who joins Trevor in bed, and for how long. This is part of the mechanisms of a multiple family: making such decisions without acrimony. Helen, as the most recent addition to our own family, will show you where the rooms are, and the necessary ablutions for your needs. I bid you good night, ladies and gentleman."

As Bob left, Amelia spoke quickly to Ruth. "Ruth, is my job secure for the future? I know everything was my fault, but I didn't know I was doing anything wrong."

Ruth smiled at her. "Amelia, you can keep your job. I shall vouch for you to the Director of Education. Now, good night, my dear."

"Thanks, Ruth. Goodnight."

Next morning, when Bob finally got up, he discovered that their guests had still not appeared for breakfast. He sent Mary to ask them about their orders for breakfast.

She returned full of news. "I spoke with Dinah. Last night, the four girls got together in one bedroom, and hammered out who was going to be with Trevor, in what sequence, and for how long. Apparently there was a lot of giggling going on during that, but they settled it amicably. It seems they tossed for turns, then agreed on half an hour for each girl with him. It was back to the coin tossing to see who would get to sleep with him for the rest of the night; then there was an argument about getting another turn with him in the morning. That was agreed to be in the reverse sequence, once they decided what time that would begin.

The reason we haven't seen any of them is that they are all tired now, and Trevor in particular is worn out! They are starting, as a group, to understand that their man must be handled carefully, if he is to remain the stud they want him to be – like our man!"

Bob laughed at the scene Mary had painted in his mind. "Good grief! That would wear me out completely. He is lucky that he is a young man: he'll recover quickly. Mary, best put on a large fry-up for Trevor when he gets up. I think he will be ravenous. I am hungry, but that was only with you and Diane giving me love. For an older girl, Diane still packs a wallop in bed when she gets going. It must be all these muscles she developed in the military. You are just a young and healthy wonderful girl. Now, did you get all the breakfast orders?"

Mary put her hand to her mouth. "Damn! It went clean out of my head! Sorry about that, Bob. Oh, well, I'll just do things as they arrive and ask for their choices, but I'll get the ingredients ready for Trevor's fried breakfast."

As she spoke, Dinah arrived, only half-dressed, but with her hair tidied. "Hi. I could do with some breakfast, if that is all right with you, Mary?"

Mary smiled at the youngster. "Of course, my girl ... or rather, young woman; you have yourself a man, now, don't you?"

She blushed engagingly. "I think so, Mary. Trevor is wonderful! He suits me fine, so if he is happy to have me, I'll be glad to become his wife."

"Even sharing him?"

"Yes, but sharing him with my sisters is no real problem. I love them (don't tell them I said that), so I can get along with them; and Amelia is a darling lady. I know I can't have him all to myself - you know what it is like, don't you? - but I'll be happy enough."

Mary sighed, "Yes, none of us can have our man to ourselves, but if he is a good, loving and caring husband, and cares about your children, what more could you ask for? Now, what do you want for breakfast? A full fry-up; continental breakfast; or just cereal?"

"I am quite hungry, so a fry-up for me please, but no black pudding or anything similar; I don't like these things - yuck. Can you throw in a couple of spoonfuls of baked beans, Mary?"

"No bother at all. Right. Coming up in about seven minutes, if I time it right."

Bob enquired of Dinah, "Where are the others? Are they on their way?"

"No idea," declared Dinah. "I got first shot with Trevor last night, lovely it was, and this morning I was last, so I had more time to recover in between." She paused. "I am pretty sure my insides got more of his sperm last night than the others who were later, so I am probably pregnant, if I wasn't before. It is lovely: the thought of being pregnant with his child." She looked pleased with herself.

Bob decided to downplay the event. " Your assumed pregnancy is not necessarily so, Dinah. It is surprising how much time it can take before a girl gets pregnant, no matter how many times she tries with her man. It is a bit of a lottery. For some girls, once is enough, for others, it can take months of lovemaking. One cannot predict the outcome."