Chapter 11

Her eyes sparkled as she took this in.

“So Dad really has to juggle things every year, estimating what produce is worth investing in, and what is a bad choice that year? If I had realised that, I would have done something to help, even if it was simply researching markets, and finding if there was an animal or produce we could diversify into, like goats for goat’s milk or cheese, or even goat meat. I saw recently that water buffalo are being farmed somewhere in England.”

“That’s it,” Reg agreed with her assessment. “Knowing more about the farm would have helped a great deal, without you even touching a cow’s udder or mucking out a byre.”

“Reg, I realise now what utter fools we were at home. We paid no attention to what was happening at the farm, for we did not care about it. Why didn’t Mum and Dad tell us?”

“With your attitude at the time, Hermione, would you have listened?”

She stopped to think, and admitted, “You are right; I wouldn’t have listened, and Jemima would have gone along with me. She usually went along with what her big sister thought. I must have made a mess of her life, too.”

“You did, back then, but not now, though,” urged Reg. “Now you see things differently, and can advise her better. Perhaps she is also old enough to make her own decisions, eh?”

“Damn! That is true as well. She should be coming to her own conclusions, just like she has to with her new job in the company. Should I stay away from her in future, when she has to think about what she should do?”

“No. You need to be there to support her. Don’t tell her what to do, but tell her to think seriously before coming to a decision, and say that you will support her in whatever she decides. THAT is real sisterly advice.”

Hermione unexpectedly came forward, grabbed Reg’s face with both hands, and kissed him hard.

“You are a great mentor, Reg. I love that about you. This is the sort of boss every young person should have.”

“I just try to do and say the right thing, Hermione. I don’t always get it right. That is why I listen to all my wives, for they can give me great input towards a decision. It might be different if they were not clever, but having wives that are at least as clever as me, that is a wonderful place to be.”

Hermione’s face fell as Reg spoke, and he noticed.

“That is not to say that you are not clever, Hermione, for you are self-evidentially clever, but not in an academic way. You didn’t takle an academic route, for that did not fit with your self-centred lifestyle, academia and clevernessa re not the same thing. Cleverness shows itself in many different ways. Take for example the work you have already done today: that was indeed clever, and I applaud it. Now I want you to go and perform another clever miracle with that local authority enquiry.”

Mollified, Hermione went off to the company office to see what she could put together. Reg in the meantime sought out Frances, and eventually found her supervising Sidra and Elizabeth in their studies. The Anwar girls were watching the older girls working. He gestured to his wife, “Frances, can I have a word?”

She left the four teenagers and came over to Reg, who drew her into the hallway, out of earshot.

“Darling, were you aware of Hermione acting sort of romantically towards me>”

“Romantically? Hermione? No, dear. Why?”

“A few minutes ago, she called me ‘darling’, then claimed it was just a follow-on from all you girls calling me that. Later in the conversation, she grabbed my face and kissed me, supposedly in admiration or something. I am not sure. It all left me unsettled.”

Frances took a long look at his face, and sighed. “Reg, things happen around you that defy logic, but your mere existence at times defies logic in my world. Hermione is not the sort of person I would expect to fall for you, but if Fiona could do it, then anyone could. I am just not sure what to advise you.”

“You think I am safe from her amorous intentions, if she has them?” He sounded worried.

“I can’t say that, Reg. What may have happened is that you have turned her from a self-obsessed country bumpkin into a helpful and considerate member of our company staff, and as a result she sees you as her hero.”

“Self-obsessed, yes, country, yes, but bumpkin, no. That woman has brain talents and is not stupid, and neither is her younger sister, my darling wife. Their work proves that. There is a big difference between being clever and using your brain properly. Back at her parents’ farm, she was just coasting along to suit her laziness. We have changed all that, so now she is a different personality in the same body.”

Frances stared at her husband.

“Reg, you are challenging my estimation of a woman, and doing it effectively. That is unheard of, my lovely man. You have changed, yourself, I can see. I must tell the girls that our husband is maturing: you are going to be a fine father, my love.”

Reg was confused, and showed it.

“But what about Hermione, Frances? What do I do?”

“Reg, you must stop depending on me and the other girls for your social judgements. You are a grown-up man now, despite your background and insecurity. I have some confidence in your ability to judge a situation and come to a conclusion. You surely don’t think she is angling to capture your heart, when you have six loves already?”

She looked into his eyes as she said this, and suddenly stopped.

“My God! You suspect that she IS trying to catch your attention!” Frances thought for a moment.

“Leave it with me, Reg. This requires a group enquiry into the facts.” She hurried to send him back to his office so that she could consult her fellow wives.

Reg obediently returned to his study-cum-office, bemused at Frances’ reaction. He had got used to the regular visits of the hairdresser to all the ladies, and later the frequent calls by the midwife to check up on his wives, but he still could not get his head around this group discussion among the girls when it seemed to him so simple. Perhaps there was more that he was missing? It was tough at times, being the only male in this household.

Then he thought about what he had been like last year, just starting university. Life had changed dramatically, so wonderfully, for him, so why should he worry about such details?

Perhaps it was because he was a mere male, and saw things in factual terms rather than emotional ones.

He returned his attention to his email in-box. There was a lot there, but mostly junk, he expected.

A while later, as he was going over the last of his email, there was a light tap at his study door, and Jemima entered, almost apologetically.

“Ah ... Mr Robertson, can I ask you something? What has happened with Hermione?”

“How do you mean, Jemima?”

“Well, a few minutes ago she was NICE to me.”

“That is a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but it is not normal for her. She likes to boss me around, as the big sister she is, but this time she was quite solicitous. It worried me.”

“So what did you want me to do?”

“I don’t know. It seems to have something to do with you, for her eyes lit up when she mentioned you. Apparently you gave her some useful advice, but it was more than that, I felt.”

“I see,” said Reg, but he didn’t. “I am still not sure what you want me to do about it, Jemima.”

“Well, this is the first time I have seen her like this. It is as if she has fallen for you, but that can’t be it, as you have plenty of women already, unfortunately. Can you recall what you and she said to each other, a little while back?”

“Oh. Now I remember: I did talk to her about how she treated you, and suggested she be more supportive of you, letting you make your own decisions. It was just in passing that it came up: I wasn’t giving her orders!”

“Well, it worked! She came and apologised to me for how she treated me in the past; told me that I should pursue my own ideas, and she would back me up if I needed it. Astonishing!”

“As long as it works, Jemima; that’s what matters.”

“Anyway, thanks for that, Reg!” She came over and kissed him on the lips. “You are a darling, wonderful, man!”

She turned and left, leaving Reg floundering again. Hermione, and now Jemima!

He thought for a while, then decided to wait and see what Frances’ consultation session came up with. Jemima could just be added to the discussion, if there was no initial consensus. He was not going to go running to Frances this time. Twice in not much more than an hour would be over the top!

He returned to his final emails, deleting almost all of them as he pondered what to do with the one from Frances’ Dad. Mr LeBrun was effectively offering the building to the Robertson family, not as a free rental as before, but as a full property transfer. He was suggesting giving the building to Frances, Reg and the other spouses, as a permanent home, but in Reginald Robertson’s name, for tax purposes. His final words got through to Reg with particular impact.

“With all the discoveries you and your girls have made within the building, you have more or less paid me back for all I spent on buying the place. I have no intention of ever tossing you out, so I thought that you might as well own it outright. I trust you to act in the best interests of your family, just as I do with mine.

There will be maintenance and repair costs which you will then have to pay for, as and when they occur, but with the cash you have amassed in recent months, you should be able to cover that adequately. I would recommend you set aside a sum per month into a maintenance and repair fund, so that when bills arise, you have the cash available to pay for it without worrying about it too much.

When you and your wives graduate, you will have the building as an asset towards a new house elsewhere, should you decide to move. That is always important with a growing family. All of us parents are going to be grandparents before too long, we realise.”

Reg was inclined to accept, as it was a better deal than taking out a mortgage or trying to find a house they could afford, big enough for his new and expanding family. He would talk it over with Frances, first; then if she was fine with the concept, they could ask the other wives for their opinion.

He had a different concern bothering him: what to do about Maryam and her daughters. They could not stay forever, so some solution had to be obtained that would allow them to live safely, free from the threat of her mentally unstable husband and his intention to marry his elder daughter off in Pakistan, against her will.

Maryam had successfully wormed her way into the life of the household, as witness her performance with Jessica over the runaway teens. She and Jessica had done a grand job with these teens and their families, despite the religious and colour clash involved.

Her two daughters had, as predicted, done well with the change to home schooling, under the tutoring of Sidra and Elizabeth. These daughters of his were wonders in themselves, and they had exams coming up shortly. He must have a chat with them to see if they were confident about their chances in the exams. Frances had the exams booked in at the technical college in the next town up the motorway in the next few weeks, if his memory served him right. He trusted she had the transport arranged to get them there and back. He quite fancied a trip there himself, as he could have a look around the town while waiting. His visits to other places had been minimal in the past, so he thought he deserved a chance to see some other places in England, even if it was in the same county.

One of his wishes would be to visit Sir Humphrey Davy’s home town of Penzance in Cornwall. Davy was a hero of Reg’s for his statement in a letter to his mother, “Learning naturally is a true pleasure; how unfortunate then it is that in most schools it is made a pain.” Reg could go along with these sentiments.

Davy was a great scientist, Reg willingly recognised, despite his views on light. He wrote in one 1798 book that light fuelled all chemical reactions, including combustion, and that human bodies ‘fed’ on it, stimulating our nervous systems and allowing us to see, feel, and think. Reg’s opinion was that even the cleverest person can have ‘off’ days; though this weird statement was a bit much for such a normally rational man.

Later, Frances came back to inform him of the conclusions of her group think. She appeared at his study, entered, then turned to lock the door for privacy.

“Reg, we had our group conference, than I went and had a talk with Hermione. She was reticent at first, then admitted that she had changed her view of you. From being an outside influence in collusion with her parents, and not liked as such, she saw you in action in that attack in Scarborough. That made her see you in a better light, but she was not happy at the plans you had for her and Jemima. That turned out far better than she expected, and she was preparing to return home when Elizabeth let fly at her for being self-centred. That made her look at herself in more depth, and she was unhappy with what she saw. Then you came up and offered her an important job with our company, and that turned her outlook upside down again.

She was in a mental turmoil, but at every turn you were there to advise and help her. She told me that she was now enamoured of you. It had not been conscious, until she called you ‘darling’ by accident. It was her subconscious speaking, saying what she was feeling, before she realised it herself.

Then you offered important advice on her relationship with Jemima, and that put the seal on her perception of you as a hero figure. She told me that she now loved you, even though she knew it was impossible, with you already very much married.

This has left our previous conclusion in tatters. Hermione is not the person she was, and is not even the person we all thought she was.

It is confusing, my darling. I don’t know what I think now, and I am unsure what I can recommend to the other girls.”

Reg was astonished at what Frances had just told him. This was not like Frances. She was normally very much in control; self-confident in the extreme, at least since they had become a couple, but a couple with extras, extras that had expanded considerably.

He could see that Frances indeed did not know what to do, so he opened his arms to her, and she rushed into them, seeking consolation or reassurance or simply a loving cuddle; he was not sure which. He whispered to her, “Welcome to my world, Frances darling. I often have the same problem. I take a ‘time-out’ and wait until I calm down, then everything seems to settle into manageable proportions. Take a deep breath, breathe out slowly and let your mind become calm again.”

She whispered back, “I think it is my pregnancy that is affecting me, Reg. My hormones are not normal, and my mind is having difficulty comprehending it. Hopefully I will be okay soon. If you fondle me a little, that may help.”

Reg did not need to be asked twice, and his hands were on her breasts in an instant. He always enjoyed playing with his wives’ breasts, so this was normal for him. These wonderful breasts had become more tender with pregnancy, so he was very careful not to be rough in caressing them. He allowed his other hand to run up and down her leg, for he had soon found with his girls that he was a leg man as well. In fact, he was an ‘everything’ man when it came to his girls!

Frances slowly relaxed, and kissed her husband in gratitude for his solicitous treatment. She murmured, “I still don’t know what to do, but you made me feel better about it.”

“Better about your indecision?”

“No. Better about accepting Hermione, and possibly Jemima.”

“Pardon? What do you mean ‘accepting’?”

“Hermione, and I suspect Jemima too, wants a piece of you”

“Oh. Jemima made a point of kissing me earlier. Is that what you meant?”

“Not really. I think they want sex with you.”

“Why? I mean, why would they want that? They know I am happily married.”

“That is part of it. They have seen how you can keep six girls happy, and pregnant as well, so they don’t see any problem with you keeping them happy too.”

Reg grimaced. “I hope that didn’t imply getting them pregnant too!”

“That is one of the factors I had trouble with, Reg. I am certain they want sex with you, but I am not so certain about pregnancy. Maybe they do think that way; but I haven’t asked.”

“Frances, did you never think about asking what I want to do?” he asked plaintively.

“Of course I did, but I decided that you would want your wives to make that call. That is what you usually conclude on any major decision. It is not exactly passing the buck, as the yanks say, but it is certainly awarding your wives the lion’s share of power over your life.”

“But while I prefer to have you girls on board with any decision before I make it, I do like it to be my own decision in the end; not a ‘fait accomplis’ presented to me.”

“Darling, it is never that way. What happens is that when you have a social-type problem, you recognise that your wives have more and better experience to work from, so you ask them to advise you. We offer the requested advice, and you proceed with it. The fact that you always take our advice is your recognition that it is good advice. Is that not so?”

Reg found he had been pushed into a corner, with no way out. He was forced to agree with the logic he had been presented with, by Frances in this case, but he felt he should try to be a little more masterful. He sought to add his own logic to the equation,

“Frances, shouldn’t Hermione and Jemima consult their parents before venturing into the unknown?”

“To what purpose, darling? Their parents have no knowledge relevant to the question, so they would simply be prattling the standard social and religious pabulum to the two girls. That wouldn’t help the pair at all; simply confuse them.”

“Damn, woman. You keep throwing my logic back in my face!”

“Reg darling, you were the one who told us to think that way, remember? That is the university standard: think rationally, not emotionally.”

He agreed, and demanded grumpily, “Well, then, what did our wives say?”

“Effectively, they passed the ball back to me. They claimed that they were not in a position to gainsay another woman’s desire for happiness. Even Erika and Freda took that line, surprising me. I think they have adopted the group’s ethos because they forced your hand, and your cock, at the beginning, when we first took you over. They feel guilty at that, and don’t want to spoil another woman’s chances.”

She paused, took a breath, and said, “I can see their reasoning, even if I disagree with it. To me, it is our responsibility as your wives to give you unbiased advice, and their present viewpoint is biased in my estimation, as a result of their past experience.

So it is down to me to advise you. I don’t want to push you one way or another, my love. I suggest that we talk to Hermione, with or without Jemima present, and see what we can get out of them. After all, they were brought here actually against their will, at the behest of you and their parents.

It is a big jump for them to want to be with you now, and I am slightly afraid that it is the kidnap syndrome, where the captive begins to align with the captor. I mentioned that to Fiona, but she says it is not an exact analogy, though there may be some slight effect involved in the situation.

That is what I have been thinking, so it will be your judgement, my love, in the final determination.

Shall we interview them?”

Reg nodded his head sagely. “It is not what I expected, but you have done your best, Frances my darling. I need you here with me, to stop me if I am going wrong. We must see what Hermione and Jemima have to say for themselves. Hermione is working in the office, but I don’t know what Jemima is doing.”

“Oh, she was out in the garden half an hour back, with Jessica, learning about what each of the trees and other plants are. It seems she wants to do some gardening for us. Imagine: growing up on a farm, and not knowing which tree is apple and which cherry, and the difference between lupin and Montbretia, or I should say, crocosmia, as it is now known.”

“Francis, I didn’t either, apart from pictures in books, but I soon learned what we had in our garden. I needed to know what was a weed and what was a planted flower. Most flowers started out as wild plants, you know. I am glad to know that Jemima is also teaching herself. Is it too soon to call her in? We can speak to Hermione by herself, if you want.”

“Might be best to do that, darling. Jemima would not be at her best if we pull her away from that. I’ll go fetch Hermione.” She got up and left the study, returning a few minutes later with an apprehensive Hermione.

Hermione burst out tearfully on seeing Reg, “What did I do wrong, Reg? I didn’t mean to upset you and Frances!”

Reg held up a hand. “Hold it, Hermione! Don’t jump to wrong conclusions before we even speak to you. Let us explain why you are here, and then you can say what you like. Okay?”

She looked a little less frightened now, and started to calm down. She grabbed Frances’ hand. “I didn’t mean to upset you; really, Frances.”

Frances told her, “I know dear. Sit down, woman. Let Reg say his piece, please.”

Once she had quietened and sat down, Reg started.

“Hermione, I need to know your intentions towards me, and also towards my wives. This is no accusation or threat to you. Your job is secure here. Start from that premise when you respond.”