Chapter 22

Strange how some of the most obvious solutions elude one. Jenny's solution that Ann move into my house and I move back to the flat was indeed obvious.

Of course the most natural place for Ann would be with the children. They were in my house, therefore so should she be. Since I could not live in the same house, the obvious place for me would be my flat. Ann and I would have to discuss visitation rights. The children could stay with me at weekends, though I couldn't have them all overnight at once.

All this went though my head while Jenny looked apprehensively at me.

"You're right, Jenny," I said at length. "Of course. It's obvious. Ann's coming back here tomorrow with the children's things. We can talk to her then."

"We can?" she muttered, "Some of us have to work for a living."

"Oh," I said apologetically, "Sorry. Can you hold the fort while I sort all this out?"

She hugged me. "Of course, you idiot! You've got to give your family what they need. Remember, there is a meeting in Austria next week, two days starting Tuesday."

"You'll stay tonight?"

"No," she said decisively. "I've got to get to work in the morning, and I've been away from you too long and that would mean a lot of activity. I wouldn't be able to get up in the morning, and haven't you got to get the kids off to school? We'll have to be patient a little longer."

I actually felt relieved. I was spared for a while longer the reactions of my children. With Greta I had no problem, but the lads would be a different matter, especially Jan!

Jenny made the rounds of the children, receiving a hug from Greta and a glance and a muttered good night from Stefan. She made a point of going up to Jan, saying good night and kissing his cheek. I watched from the doorway to his room; she stalked towards me grinning, and Jan was touching his cheek, his adoration clear.

"Two out of three isn't bad," I said as we descended the stairs. "I think Stefan will come round when he sees how his siblings have reacted to you."

"Hope so!" she grinned. "I can't wait much longer to get you into bed. Good night."

The kiss I got was not a gentle peck on the cheek but a full blown sizzling sexual invitation to greater things. We were both breathing heavily when we prized ourselves apart with heated glance and heady smile.

Looking back on it, I'm surprised I thought it such a good idea right away. After all, I had hardly moved into the house myself, and I was enjoying the connections it was making in my mind and memory. Moving Ann in had just seemed so logical, but on consideration I wonder if I just wanted her away from Derek – if I wanted to steal her from him in revenge even if I had no intention of getting back with her myself.

In any case, things moved too quickly from then on to think about it.

The children walked to school next morning, Wednesday the 5th of May. I think they were glad to do it. There were no reporters now the case was adjourned. Stefan joined a 'walking train' to his primary school, and the older two were happy to meet their friends. It gave me time to get the house straight.

Ann arrived at ten thirty. We stowed the children's stuff in their rooms and then returned to the kitchen. Ann made as if to go.

"I'll be getting back to work," she said, collecting her bag and coat. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"

I gave her a look.

"Of course you will," she smiled with a sigh. "I'm so used to Derek. He's hopeless. I've never been able to leave the children with him!"

"Ann," I said. "Can you give me a few minutes before you rush off?"

She stopped and looked apprehensive. "Yes, what is it?"

"Jenny came up with a idea last night."

"Yes?" Suspicion.

"You're looking for a place to live."

"Yes. You know that."

"Ann, why not move back here? It's where the children are. It's been your home for so long. It can be again."

Her look told me I'd said the right thing. She looked shocked, then there was a half smile.

"I'll move out, of course," I added. "I have my flat in Stretford still. It's quite big enough for me, and it's big enough for the children to stay weekends, as long as they don't all come at once."

Her expression changed; the smile disappeared.

"Oh," she said.

Another emotion flashed across her face that I couldn't read before it was gone. Then it was as if she collected herself.

"Allan," she said, "you can't do this. You bought the house; it's yours. I can't let you just leave it for some poky flat."

"It's what I want, and what you need, Ann, " I replied. "The children need you. You have the chance to be all together again in the house you all love. Please do this for them. I'm sure you'll be happier here as well, rather than in some rented house. And by the way, the flat is far from poky!"

She was silent for a long moment. Then she stiffened and I knew her mind was made up. The half smile returned.

"All right," she said, somewhat reluctantly, "but this is your real home and you must come and go as you please. Don't stay away. You will come here to see the children, won't you? Often?"

Then as if as an afterthought under her breath though I heard it, "And I'd like to see you as well."

"There are two favours to ask," I ventured.

"Fire away."

"Could you stay this weekend while I sort out the flat? It's not been lived in for a while; it'll be musty."

She smiled. "I'd love to."

"Friday to Sunday?"

"Fine. And the second one?"

"I've got to go to Salzburg next week, leaving Tuesday getting back Thursday."

"Want me here again?"

"Please."

"No problem. At this rate I'll hardly see Derek till I move out!" Her smile widened.

"So," she said. "I could actually move in permanently the weekend after next. I'll be glad to be free of Derek, it nauseates me to have to live in the same house. This is working out well."

"Good," I said, relieved, "I'll see if Jenny will help to move my stuff on Saturday. Will you be here permanently from the following Saturday night?"

She nodded.

"And will you eat here evenings until you finally take up residence? You don't need to cook for Derek do you?"

"Not any more." She had that set to her jaw again.

"One other thing," I said tentatively. "Trish is going to New Zealand this Friday; she'll be staying over tomorrow so she's near the airport."

"OK," said Ann blithely.

Then she was off to work and I decided to do the same. I'd been neglecting it for too long, one of the perks of owning the place, I suppose. I'd be taking the afternoon the next day to meet Trish and Friday morning to take her to the airport. I really did need to put in an appearance.

As it happened, next day Trish actually turned up at the office at lunchtime.

"I wanted to see Jenny and have a little talk with her," she said, "in private."

That was pointed enough for me. I held both hands up in a defensive gesture and exited the office. I called in on Geoff and we chatted about the trip to Austria.

"Oh," said Geoff when we drew to a close, "Viv rang."

He laughed, "I should warn you that she's on the warpath. She wants you to go for dinner one evening, the weekend?"

"Sorry, Geoff," I said, "This weekend is a rest time. After what's happened I need time to breathe and think."

He smiled knowingly. "After Austria then? The Thursday you get back? I'm under orders to confirm. If I were you I'd check with David whether he knows about this plan of hers."

"OK, make it that Thursday."

I went back to my office, to find my two girlfriends relaxing and chatting.

"Finished?" I said, with a touch of acid.

"Yes," said Trish, and smiled at me warmly.

"Yes," said Jenny, with a wink.

I knew I was not going to be let into the secret but my bad temper evaporated at the sight of my lovers smiling lovingly at me.

Trish and I went back to the house. As soon as we got inside Trish turned to me and kissed me hard.

"Jenny says your kids are living here with you," she said breathlessly as we broke the kiss.

I nodded.

"Allan," she said urgently, "I don't want to cause any problems. They think you and Jenny are an item. Can we have one last time in bed, now? Then tonight I can sleep in another room. We can cuddle tonight downstairs. I want to remember this last day."

I nodded and we ran up the stairs and stripped off in record time, falling into bed together. We kissed, we licked, we sucked and kissed again. We stroked and caressed; we pinched, we slapped. We made love, by which I mean we did not simply fuck.

We gazed at each other; we saw the meaning of the past few years together; we summed up the gift each had given the other. We knew then the depth of our love for each other, and our gratitude. We knew that there would always be that special bond between us, even when we were as far apart on this planet as it is possible to be.

The children returned and took Trish in their stride as my friend who was going to the airport the next day. Ann arrived and we all ate together. The children disappeared after the meal and the three of us sat and chatted about all that had happened, Ann thanking Trish for her intervention at the pub, saying that it had saved her from a very serious error of judgement.

Ann made her farewells to Trish, hugging her at length. Then she did the rounds of the children, then turned what I thought were sad eyes to me, gave me a peck on the cheek and departed.

After the boys were in bed, Trish and I cuddled up on the sofa and listened to some relaxing music, Bach I think it was. Greta came down eventually and said she was going to do some more revision and then go to bed. It was a pointed remark with a salacious grin. I patted her bottom as she made to leave the room and she said 'Ouch' very prettily.

The two women hugged and kissed, assuring each other that they would email.

"Can I come and visit you sometime?" asked Greta, and got the answer she wanted.

"I checked the boys and they are fast asleep," she added as she left with another grin. She hugged me and patted my bottom in her turn. Young girls grow up too quickly, and get too cheeky!

Trish and I did have the strong intention of remaining platonic for the evening but within half an hour we were in my bed with the door locked. We made love gently and at length, and lay in each other's arms for an hour before Trish tore herself away and went to the guest room.

There was little to say, indeed our emotions, arising as they did from vivid memories (yes even mine), so densely packed that words were impossible, but our looks and our protracted leave-taking said all that needed to be said.

Just as well really, because the next morning was all business. Boys out of the house for school – Greta was going in a little later, Then Trish and I were off to the airport where the check–in was rapid for a change and she disappeared from view after our final hurried hugs and a few tears shed, but we both knew it was for the best.

So I returned to work with a heavy heart. I said little to Jenny and she respected my sadness, saying little but being diplomatically helpful in every way, with the odd gentle touch of my arm or a brush of my head where the hair should have been.

As we prepared to leave after work, Jenny laid her hand on my arm.

"Would you like me to come tonight for the weekend to the flat?" she asked gently.

"I would," I said. I wanted to say more but the words would not come out.

"OK," was all she said. I loved her so much for that delicacy.

Ann was at home already that evening when I arrived and had made the evening meal. The children were much happier for her presence. They looked more relaxed and, well, contented.

I checked with Ann that she was staying and she re-affirmed her intention to stay the whole weekend up till Monday morning. She said that she had brought some of her stuff over already to make things easier the following week.

I was relieved, I needed the chance to get Jenny to myself; I was missing her presence in my bed terribly. I think Ann knew that, though what she thought about it I could only guess.

So after the evening meal, I loaded the car with about half my casual clothes, promised the children that I would be back on Sunday night to see them, and drove to the flat. It had the stale musty smell of a place that hadn't been aired for weeks. I opened all the windows and let the cool breeze chill me as it cleansed the air.

I had only just returned the flat to some sort of ambient temperature when Jenny arrived with a small hold-all, and we kissed ravenously as soon as she was in the hallway of the flat and the door was closed. We stripped off each other's clothes and sank to the floor, our hands and fingers stroking and probing as if to remember what our bodies felt like, our tongues carrying out a similar exploration of each other's mouth. I was hard and she was wet and we did it missionary style without delay on the wooden hallway floor.

"Harder! Harder!" Jenny cried, not that I needed encouragement; I was thrashing around slaking my body's thirst for woman, and she was humping back as hard as she could, her body seeking to enclose and swallow man. She came with customary abandon; her shouts, grunts and expletives filling the flat, and I followed soon after, echoing her noise and my language answering her own.

I rolled off her as soon as my jerking body had stilled, and we lay laughing on the hard floor, side by side gazing at the ceiling.

"God," she blasphemed, "that was so good!"

"Any splinters?" I asked laughing, though the question was half serious: it was not a particularly smooth floor.

"No," she giggled back, feeling her bum and back. "Though I think I'll be bruised in the morning. But that was well worth it; you are an animal sometimes."

"Speak for yourself," I answered, looking sideways at her deliciously arched body, her breasts almost invisible against her chest, her blond pubis matted with fluids thrust into the air and her long legs flexing as she arched, feeling her bottom for splinters.

She collapsed, then sat up, her breasts appearing again as if by magic, and then she stood. She was ten years my junior, and whole and entire; it showed as she stood up effortlessly and then helped me to my feet, my groans echoing round the flat.

"Come on old man," she mocked. We walked naked into the living room and I poured us two glasses of pale ale. We sat together on the sofa in the nude, sipping our drinks and idly playing with each other's bits and pieces.

"I needed that!" I sighed eventually. "I've missed you."

She snuggled down under my arm.

"And I you," she whispered. "It was agony working with you this week. I wanted to jump you and rip your clothes off."

"If only I'd known," I said as seriously as I could manage. "I'd have taken them off myself. Though finding us humping nakedly on my desk might have shocked Judy."

"Might have? She'd have had a fit!"

There was a pause and she grinned. "Then she'd have stayed to watch, wondering why you never did it for her when she was your PA!"

"I was married," I stated baldly, "but if I hadn't have been, who knows?"