Chapter 11

Saturday

I woke to the smell of eggs and bacon. Malcolm was cooking breakfast. Sheila, on the other hand, was stroking my body, caressing my breasts as she kissed my neck and shoulders.

"Good morning, sweetie," she said. "Malcolm's making breakfast. What do you say to a shower before we eat?"

I thought it sounded very good. Saying so, we went to the bathroom and stepped into the shower. We washed each other. There was nothing sexual about this shower. We were merely getting cleaned up before breakfast.

"Ruth called while you two were in the shower," Malcolm said as Sheila and I sat down at the table.

"Oh," Sheila asked.

"She was just checking up on Mira. Apparently, we forgot to call last night."

Fuck. I hated causing Ruth to worry.

"Don't worry, Mira," Malcolm said, noticing my scowl. "We've known Ruth for quite some time. She knew you were okay. She just was wondering when to expect you."

"Oh," I said, feeling relieved.

"I was thinking," he continued, "that we'll drop you off at home after we eat. Is that okay?"

"Yes," I said. "Thank you for everything."

"Oh," Sheila asked impishly. "Does that mean you liked it, too?"

I just stuck out my tongue at her.

"If that's an offer," she said, spreading her thighs, "I'm more than willing to accept."

I'm not likely to win any verbal sparring matches with her. Choosing the high road, I decided to let it go rather than continue any childish behavior that would lead to further embarrassment.

We arrived back at Lisa's house around eleven thirty. Walking through the door, I was immediately set upon by Lisa and dragged to her room.

"Tell me everything," she demanded.

I filled her in on the events of the last sixteen hours. Every time I was even slightly vague on some details, she attacked, making sure I backed up and filled in the blanks. Finally, after thirty minutes, she was satisfied.

"So," she said, "when can we play like that?"

"Lisa," I said patiently. "I'm not sure we can. At least, not yet."

"Why the hell not?"

"I don't have many friends. I want to make sure I don't screw up this friendship with something as trivial as sex."

"You know," she said with a pout, "denying me sex might be a good way to screw it up, too."

"I knew it. You just want me because of my body."

The thrown pillow, her immediate response, launched us into a pillow fight that lasted until Ruth appeared. Armed with a spray bottle filled with water, she took turns hitting Lisa, and then me, until we calmed down.

"Get changed out of those wet clothes and come downstairs," Ruth demanded. "We all need to talk."

Before we could reply, Lisa's mother was gone.

"That sounds ominous," Lisa said.

I didn't respond. I was too concerned that I'd screwed up with Malcolm and Sheila.

"Malcolm and Sheila had a wonderful time last night, Mira. There's no problem there."

I was greatly relieved to here it.

"I wanted to talk to you about another issue."

We sat at the table, waiting for Ruth to continue.

"Mira, I know we didn't ask you, and for that, I apologize."

"What?"

"Do you remember me calling my friend Wednesday night? When that bitch was trying to put you in a foster home?"

"You mean her boss?"

"Yes. Jason and I have been talking to him since then. We also had him contact your attorney, Mr. Pendergrast."

"Okay," I said, still not knowing where this was going.

"The long and short of it is that we would like to adopt you."

"What," I asked. "Adopt me?"

"If you would agree, yes. My friend had his office run a background check on Jason and me. There's nothing there that would prevent us from adopting you. Your attorney has gone over your mother's will, and while I do not know the details of the will - Mr. Pendergrast would not reveal that much - he confirmed that there's nothing in your mother's will that would prevent us from adopting you."

"The only obstacle," Ruth continued, "is you. What do you want? Before you make a decision, I want you to know that even if you don't want to be adopted, we'd be delighted to be foster parents for you."

I looked over at Lisa and she was grinning ear to ear.

"I'm sorry, Ruth," I said, "but I'll need to think about this before giving you my answer. Thank you for the offer of being my foster parents. That makes this easier to consider."

"I'd expect no other answer," the mother said. "In fact, I'd be concerned if you accepted without taking time to consider the ramifications."

That was a surprise. I knew that they had accepted me, but adoption? That'd really make me their daughter. Like Lisa. Most foster parents do not adopt because they want the option of backing out of the program.

I decided to call Mr. Pendergrast. Maybe he could help me make my decision.

"Hello, Mira," Mr. Pendergrast said as he picked up the call. "How may I help you?"

"I was just informed that Lisa's parents want to adopt me. I was wondering what they know about my mother's will."

"Nothing at all, Mira," he said. "I only revealed that your mother made no objections to the idea of you being adopted."

"What does my mother's will say about that possibility?"

"The couple that adopts you will receive double the amount received by anyone who was merely acting as a guardian. In other words, They'd receive ten thousand dollars a month until your eighteenth birthday and three-quarters of a million dollars on your eighteenth birthday."

"I haven't asked before, and I'm not sure you have the authorization to tell me, but how much is my mother's estate worth?"

"I can't give you a grand total," he said. "but the value is more than thirty million dollars."

I was stunned.

"What," I asked.

"I said it's more than thirty million dollars."

"Do I have any access to that? At this time, I mean."

"You have limited access. You have access to ten thousand dollars a month until your eighteenth birthday."

"If I were to agree to being adopted by the Walkers, could you take five thousand of that and add it to the ten thousand they would receive?"

"If I understand you correctly," he said, "you mean that you'd have access to five thousand a month and the Walkers would receive fifteen thousand a month. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"I can't change the will, but I can create an order for five thousand to be transferred from your account to the Walkers' account on a monthly basis."

"That'd be great. One other question. I understand that social services ran a background check on the Walkers. Can you tell me anything about that check?"

"No," he replied. "Privacy regulations prevent me from releasing any detailed information. I can tell you, however, that I was told that they'd achieved the highest rating possible for prospective adoptive parents."

"Thank you, Mr, Pendergrast," I said. "I think I'm going to agree to being adopted. I like the Walkers a great deal and I feel safe here."

"I'll contact social services and let them know you've agreed. They'll contact the Walkers within a week to let them know that the adoption has been approved. They'll need to go down to social services to sign some paperwork and I'll need copies to be added to your files, but there should be no problems."

"Thank you, Mr, Pendergrast. I'd appreciate that very much."

"I thought you agreed to call me 'Richard', Mira."

"Thank you, Richard."

"You're very welcome. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Not at this time."

"Then I'll call social services and get the ball rolling on this. Have a nice day, Mira."

"I will," I said. "You too, Richard."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

I hung up and sat down on the steps.

I wondered how Lisa would take it. If the Walkers did adopt me, then I would be her sister. I know she was looking forward to having sex, but how would she feel about having sex with her sister?

I went back into the kitchen and sat at the table. Lisa and Ruth were still there, talking about the plans for the afternoon. I decided to tell Ruth that I was open to the idea of being adopted.

"Ruth," I began. "If you and Mr. Walker are sure about this, I would like to be adopted by you."

"Wonderful," she said. "I'll tell Jason as soon as he comes down."

"Tell me what," Mr. Walker asked as he entered the room.

"Mira has agreed to let us adopt her."

"Beautiful," he said. "I'll have to contact social services to finalize the paperwork."

"Um, about that," I said. "I called Mr. Pendergrast and talked with him. He'll be contacting social services. He seems to think they'll contact you this week to let you know when the paperwork is ready to be signed. I'm sorry if I overstepped myself."

"You haven't," Ruth said. "Having a lawyer follow up on this will ease my concerns that something might be missed."

"Agreed," Mr. Walker said. "I can read Hugo, but those legal forms sometimes baffle me."

I smiled. Then we turned to Lisa. Lisa wasn't smiling. She wasn't smiling at all. She looked, in fact, like she wanted to hit me.

"What's wrong, dear," Ruth asked.

"So," Lisa said. "Let me see if I have this right. You are going to adopt Mira?"

"As long as everyone agrees to it," Ruth said.

"I am not sure I do," Lisa said.

"Why not?"

"She would be my sister, then, right?"

"Yes."

"And sex between sisters is incest, something which is illegal, right?"

"I see," Mr. Walker said. "You are concerned that you would lose the chance to play with Mira?"

"Yes."

I couldn't believe she was so open in front of her parents.

"There's no problem, dear," Ruth said.

"What do you mean?"

"Although you'll be sisters of a sort, there's no blood relation. That negates the incest factor."

"What?"

"Incest, my dear isn't the travesty most people seem to think it is."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know why incest is seen as bad?"

"Because you could have kids with two heads?"

"Lisa," Ruth exclaimed. "You hope to be a doctor and actually believe that nonsense?"

"Not really," Lisa said.

"Good. The reason incest is frowned upon has to do with genetic proximity."

"Now, you're losing me."

"Let me explain. Blood relatives have similar DNA. When the gene pool is that narrow, any negative traits within one of the partners has a much higher chance of being passed on to the offspring.

You would not have a child with two heads, but if one of the couple was predisposed to high blood pressure or diabetes, it's more likely the child would also be predisposed to those conditions."

"That's it?"

"That's it. The issue has been blown out of proportion by ignorant people who honestly believe that they could have a child with two heads or three arms."

"So, if there's no possibility of a child being born..."

"Then there'd be no possibility of negative traits being passed on."

"Then, it would be okay?"

"Yes. This is why I have no problem with the idea of incest between same sex family members. The act of two men having sex or two women having sex will not result in a child being born. Likewise, if one partner is sterile - unable to produce viable sperm or produce fertile eggs - there is no problem as there is no chance for a child being conceived."

"And Mira," Ruth said, turning to me. "Because you have no testicles, there's no actual sperm in your discharge. I'm sorry to say, but you won't be able to impregnate anyone."

"Yes," Lisa said excitedly.

"Lisa," Ruth said, "that is not nice."

"But that means that Mira and I can have sex as much as we want and I won't get pregnant, right?"