Chapter 23

2009 - Home

After a moment, Karen came out there on the terrace, looking at me.

“She is really pretty and smart. I can easily understand why you fell in love with her. Damn, if I’d like to do girls I’d probably go after her myself.”

She giggled to my slightly shocked look.

“Oh, we both are sure that you’d like to do something more than watch.”

Then I understood what she’d just said to me, and why, and I loved her for that. Yes, now I was able to admit to myself that I loved her.

“Thank you, Karen. I love you.”

She stopped and looked at me without blinking her eyes.

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Yes, and I should have said it to you some time ago.”

“Greg, I love you, too. But there is one thing I should tell you.”

She looked at me nervously a bit when she saw my worried look.

“Greg, it shouldn’t be anything bad, I hope. Look, I’m pregnant. I missed some of my pills out there in Egypt, and we didn’t have any protection, and...”

I hugged and kissed her. I didn’t openly cry but my eyes suddenly got very moist.

That evening things got a bit emotional, especially when Pam reconnected with Marie just to hear the inevitable. During the evening, both Karen and Pam made sure that Marie was fully informed about my adventures - or whatever they were. Marie also talked a while with Hana, but Naiya and Paul were the ones who stole the show. Naiya was so interested in the boy who was just about two months older than she was, that she kept on getting after him. Poor Paul didn’t know what to do with his new admirer, but he was quite stoic about her.

My ladies made it very clear that there was no chance of sending Marie and Paul away from the house. Since we had already turned one room into a nursery it seemed only reasonable to put both Naiya and Paul there. The room was next to the main bedroom that I had occupied with Karen. Since both Pam and Hana were going to school, and I was still jobless, we had agreed that I’d be the one who mostly took care of Naiya during nights. Luckily she was a heavy sleeper.

Once I had prepared Naiya for sleep and Marie had done the same with Paul, there was one more surprise waiting for me. When it was time to go to sleep both Karen and a very aprehensive looking Marie were standing there. Before I could say a thing, Karen took my hands in hers and looked into my eyes.

“Greg, please love Marie, tonight. She has been without any loving for quite a long time, and she needs it much more than I do, tonight.”

“Are you absolutely sure, Karen?”

“Yes. No. Yes. Look, you know I have this jealousy issue. I thought that maybe...”

“Only if you stay here and allow me to love you, too. There will be no secrets between us any more.”

I really didn’t know why I said that, but that stopped her. At first Marie looked shocked, but then she started giggling, almost silently.

“I told you that he can be kinky.”

I had to grin, myself.

“Karen, I see your reasoning, but I really do not want to jeopardize our relationship. We have already been through so much...”

She stopped me by kissing me, and then starting to undress herself before undressing me. Then she pushed me towards Marie who was shaking slightly.

It was Marie who sucked me alive again after our tender session of love-making. Then she pushed me towards Karen, who had been there watching us. Looking at Marie and me making love seemed to do something to her, since she came hard on just my second lick of her pussy.

When I woke up early the next morning between two naked women, I did a whole lot of thinking and made some decisions regarding the future. Some things just could not wait.

During the day I cornered, separately, both Hana and Karen. I talked with them about my plans. Once I had cleared things with them; I placed a call to a number I had already once decided never to use again, and once again, he answered almost immediately.

“I was not supposed to hear from or about you, ever again. Please, Greg, don’t tell me that you are in trouble! I have enough problems on my desk, already.”

“Nice to hear from you, too. But no, I’m not really in trouble. However...” he let out a groan and I chuckled, “there are a few things which you might be able help me with. I think you owe me that much.”

I thought he had a soft spot for me and my family. I was quite sure that he was a very busy man, yet he had time to listen to my ideas. Indeed, he called me back a couple of hours later.

“Greg, my old friend agreed to meet you, but she wants to talk to all the people individually. I tried to explain your status to her, but she really wants to see you all. But ... she didn’t say no.”

That old friend was actually a semi-retired federal judge. Both Pam and Hana took two days off from school, while we paid a visit to another corner of the state. Marie was confused and Pam was pissed off, since nobody was telling her exactly what was going on. I guess both Hana and I thought that it served her right. She’d been a little ‘I-already-know-it-all’ missy, lately. Ok, she wasn’t always that bad.

My wish was quite simple. I wanted to have my marriage with Hana annulled, and I wanted to adopt her instead. Divorcing her was not really an option, right now. The woman we were going to see was a widow who lived with her servant in a big house well outside the state capital. After she had greeted us she just asked me to come to her office. It looked like Hana then started explaining to Pam where we were - and why.

I could feel her dark brown eyes drilling me when I told her my history, a five year history, but shortened so explaining how I ended up in this situation wouldn’t take all day. I tried to be very open about my motivations. I didn’t paint myself being a saint, just someone who wanted to do the right thing; and, for once, for the right reasons. She listened me without interruption. When I was finished she cleared her throat.

“Your former boss used to be a colleague of my late husband’s. Do you have any plans on working with him in the future?”

Did I want to work for him anymore? Did I miss the excitement of being on the field?

“No, ma’am. I have promised to give some lectures if they want, but I intend to avoid putting my family or myself in any danger in the future, if at all possible.”

She looked at me and nodded.

“Could you please ask your wife to come in next, please?”

All of us except the small kids visited her office at least for a moment. It was Hana and Pam she had the longest discussions with once I had been there. What surprised me was that once she had questioned all of us she came to us and smiled.

“It is getting late and I know that you will not be able to get back your home until tomorrow. I’d be very happy if you’d join me for dinner. It has been much too long since I last had this kind of party in my house.”

Then she turned to me.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Harris, all the people of your family spoke very highly of you. Only your eldest daughter is a bit pissed off with you; but I’m old-fashioned enough that I think it’s the way things should sometimes be. When it comes to your request, I’ll put the wheels in motion and I’ll make sure that things are carried out correctly. They still fear me somewhat, so I’m sure that there will be no problems. However, I promise that I’ll keep on following you! So you’d better keep to what you have promised.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“‘Ma’am, ‘ my ass! Call me Elizabeth from now on. I expect some action, now.”

“Yes, Elizabeth.”

She chuckled while I turned to Marie.

“Marie dear, in a few days my marriage to Hana will be annulled, and she’ll become my adopted daughter instead. So now we’ll have a possibility to correct the error we made two years ago. Will you marry me?”

Two weeks later Marie, Paul and I started our two week honeymoon in her home town, in Southern France. I wanted to do that for her, since I knew that not all the people had been that nice to her back there. I wanted her to be able to come back home for one last time with her head held high. While we were engaged two years ago we had also planned to at least visit the area together or even move in together.

Those two weeks were like a dream. The place was just as nice and beautiful as Marie had said it would be. Her medication kept her almost pain-free and for a while we were able to forget the real world surrounding us. Karen had made it clear to us that we were not allowed to call home unless our plans changed. The only official thing we took care of was for me to be recorded as Paul’s father.

Back at home things turned out as normal as they could be. Both Marie and Karen shared my bed and this time it was Marie who made it clear that it was not a negotiable item. By Christmas Marie was getting weaker and she had to increase the amount of pain medication. When I told her that I would postpone the start of my work she chewed my ass verbally and informed that it wasn’t going to happen. I would start in my new work after New Year. Period! So I hired a nurse who would also help taking care of Naiya and Paul.

Marie made it almost to the end of January. The last few days she slept in her own bed so that she could have constant medication. For the last two days she had just slept most of the time; then, on Friday, she just didn’t wake up. I had been off work for two days. I guessed that there would be a couple of days more like that. Even though we knew it was coming, her death hit the rest of the family quite hard.