Chapter 17

We walked into a solemn bunch. Eric wouldn't look me in the eye, but Savanna was smirking, and I decided on the spot I really didn't like her that much. Both my girls were redeyed. I suspect they didn't get much more sleep than I did. They started to talk but I held up my hand. "Later, in private."

The celebratory mood was pretty much broken, and Eric and Savanna left before noon. He apologized to me before he left. "Don't take it so serious, man. I just thought you guys were open to playing. I don't mean this disrespectfully, but you do have two of the hottest women on the planet. What guy in his right mind wouldn't want them? I won't bring it up again, but the offer is open."

I accepted his sort of apology in the vein it was given. It didn't bother me at all to see the tail lights of his rental car disappear around the bend. Dorian left the next day, to finish the last three weeks of his contract. Leah was staying with us. He was on location in Canada again, and her mother was staying with her father in Vegas. They were 'seeing' each other, and Leah was hoping for a reconciliation. With no support group close, we were the fall back plan.

The girls and I talked that afternoon. I started out with an apology. "I'm asking you to forgive me for my behavior last night. I thought I had just lost something very precious, and it upset me. Look, I know I'm the third wheel here, but I still expect certain things out of our relationship. Honesty and fidelity foremost. If you want to play around with Savanna or anyone else, just tell me and we'll part company. I tend to get possesive and jealous if I'm in love. A personality flaw you're just going to have to live with if you stay."

I was sitting on a loveseat facing them, and when I finished I had two handsful of crying women. When they finally got coherent, we cleared the air.

"We did play with Savanna, a couple of times, about two years ago. I thnk we were looking for you then, but didn't recognize it. She was fun in bed, but after a couple of times we realized it was just that, fun. She didn't balance us, in fact she was a little divisive. She left, and we haven't touched her since. And we'll never touch her or anyone else again, because we have too much to lose."

Cathy looked terrified while she was talking, Tory nodding with every word.

"We'll do anything to prove our love. Wanna brand us? Got it. Want all our money? It's yours. Tell us what you want, honey, and we'll do it, no questions asked." Tory was stumbling over her words, trying to talk as fast as she could.

"Anything?" Tory nodded.

"Anything?" Cathy nodded.

"Well, in that case, come to my office. I have something to show you." They followed me, looking like they were going to an execution. Theirs. I'd lined all three rocking chairs up in front of my desk.

"All right, girls, here's what I want. I want to know if you like the rocking chairs I bought for you. I personally think they're very nice, and I'm sure our children will enjoy them."

They looked from the chairs back to me several times, before breaking down again. I'm pretty sure somewhere in there were words of love and an 'asshole' or two, for scaring them. Soon we were sitting side by side, rocking gently, when Leah found us.