Chapter 1

When morning came, Larissa was up early, excited; she was really looking forward to telling everyone the big news. She set out the yoga mats and started doing her core exercises. She was holding a half sit-up for as long as she could, her eyes shut, feeling the burn, when she heard a noise next to her. It wasn’t Nala, who often wanted to cuddle when she was going this, so she gritted her teeth and sat up fully. Turning, she found Asha sitting next her, giving her an intense look.

“Hey, how did you go?” Larissa asked her.

Asha grinned. “I had a great night. Loved it, and I did get a little sleep.” Then she paused. “Jaiden told me your story. I understand now, and I’d love you to tell me the whole story one day. You’re an amazing woman, and I want to learn from you.” Asha leaned in and kissed Larissa gently. “Jaiden told me you love kissing people. I’m going to try to learn that too.”

Larissa smiled at her. “Thanks, that’s lovely. And I do love kissing. But you have to be careful. Both the kissing, and also learning from me. Parts of me are broken.”

Asha nodded. “I understand. But parts of you are just awesome. I want to learn those. Can you tell me what your Dad’s told you? Jaiden didn’t remember all of it.”

Larissa did. Then she said, “But I can do better. We just rewrote it for ourselves, for both of us. Here, I’ll send you the source.” She pulled it up quickly since it was her background and sent it to Asha’s phone.

“Thanks, I’ll go and read it now. Before you start yoga, can I say something to everyone?”

“Sure, I’ll go find everyone.”

She found Xander and Steph making out in the bathroom. “Yoga’s starting, and I think you want to catch the start of it today.” They laughed, and by the time she got back, then everyone was there.

Larissa sat on her mat, and when everyone was ready, she said, “OK, before we start, Asha wants to say something.”

Asha walked out the front and pulled Jaiden up to stand there with her. “I just wanted to thank you all for making me so welcome last night. I had a great time, and a lovely date with Jaiden. We even got some sleep. Mrs C, I said last night that we get to first kiss, and I see that we have a minute left of our date.” She turned to Jaiden and he grinned and nodded, and they kissed. Whoa, that was a serious kiss. Larissa looked around the room, and everyone had lovely smiles.

Eventually, Jaiden and Asha stopped kissing, but Larissa knew from the look on their face that they were about to do it again. Yeah, that one really hit them.

Sophie called out, “That was lovely, thanks. But no more, your date is over by at least a minute now.” Yeah, Larissa thought, Asha might have thought that sleeping with Jaiden was off a few weeks in the future, but right now, it didn’t seem very far away at all. Maybe minutes; there was some serious passion there. “Come and sit down for yoga!”, Sophie said.

But of course, that didn’t happen, since everyone had to jump up and hug them in celebration. Once everyone was back and ready, Larissa started on the first stretch, a simple child’s pose, with everyone’s arms out in front of them. “While you’re doing this,” she said, “you should check out my hands. And Julian’s.”

Quickly, she heard some gasps of amazement. “Yep, that’s right! Julian proposed last night!”

Well, that was it for yoga for more than a few minutes, as everyone shared their excitement. Steph wanted to know how Julian proposed, so Larissa said, “Well, we were naked, he tied our wrists together, and then he sat us down on his childhood bed, and we made awesome love, and it felt like our whole family were around us, touching us and loving us as we did it. It was just amazing. And then, when we were done, he undid the tie, and these rings fell out of it, and then we got engaged, and now it’s wonderful how we’re tied together for always. And Mum and Dad already knew about because we snuck in their room last night to share it with them. Hey, see the ring, it’s got this little red line in it, that symbolises how we’re tied together for ever.” Larissa shot Sophie a sly look at the end of this and saw that she was highly amused at how Larissa told that story.

Given that, Steph demanded to know about the silk tie, so Julian went and got it and showed the family what hand-fasting was, and also showed them how he could tie Larissa’s wrists behind her back. Steph wanted a full demonstration of Larissa tied up, but Julian said, “Nah, I think we’ve done enough with the rings for today. Another time, I’ll tie Larissa up for you. Unless she ties me up instead. Or maybe we should tie you up.”

Steph poked her tongue out at Julian, and said, “You wish!” and Larissa thought to herself: yep, we will. One day. But not till the pregnancy is out of the way thoroughly.

Time for yoga now. She noticed, once they were back to it, that Asha had lost the t-shirt, and joined the rest of them in just her underwear. Jaiden couldn’t take his eyes of her, which she understood, so she made sure that they were all turned so that the stretches they did gave Jaiden a good look at her. By the end, she could tell that Asha had wised up to what she was doing, and she was rolling her eyes at Larissa. And smiling too.

When they stopped, everyone got up to go get dressed for breakfast, except for Asha, who quickly sat down with Larissa and hugged her. Larissa was expecting some comment about the stretches, but instead, Asha quietly said, “You said you like kissing. How do you stop? Woo ... I can see why Mum’s worried about the whole dating thing now.”

Larissa smiled at her. “Yeah, I saw that it rocked your worlds. Powerful things, kisses. Which is why I like them, and a good kiss hits me directly in my pussy. So I’m not sure I can help, except that I’m careful to only do it when I can manage the feelings. When you have more experience, you’ll know how to do that, though I can’t really do it with Julian. Kiss Julian good, sex will pretty much follow. From what I saw, you should only kiss Jaiden when other people are around, until you’re both ready for what naturally follows. But you should ask Mrs C, she saw it too, and she might have ideas I don’t. She’s on your side, you know.”

Asha nodded, and smiled. “Thanks.”

But as Asha went off to get dressed, Larissa found herself wondering whether it might be better to tie Asha up – she was so self-controlled. Of course, for now, she needed to be. But one day, she might benefit from loosening up?

By the time breakfast started, Chantel had messaged Jaiden to say she’d be there by ten AM. They made breakfast together, and then sat down around the table. What a great time, a great feeling.

Once everyone was settled, Sophie said, “OK, So Chantel will be here after breakfast. Julian and Larissa, I really would love for you to go to church with us to share the big news, and we’d love to show off Asha, but we haven’t talked to Asha about church, and Chantel is coming. So I was thinking, maybe you four can stay home and Larissa and Asha can talk to Chantel, and while you’re doing that, you can do the maid work for Jaiden?”

Larissa and Asha shared a smile. Yeah, Jaiden had no idea what was coming at him.

“Yeah, that works,” Larissa said. “But you miss out?”

James shrugged, “Much more important to talk to Chantel than for us to show off at Church. Maybe we can do a big dinner at our place for anyone who’s interested?”

Yeah, nods all round. They figured out a possible day that worked for them all – Saturday the weekend after. Subject to Covid restrictions, which seemed like a thing again now winter was here.

“OK,” Jaiden said, “Can we talk about what you’re going to do as maids?”

He was rather taken aback when both Larissa and Asha burst into laughter. “OK, sure,” Larissa told him. “We’re going to clean out your room so that it’s fit for Asha. You can decide what to do with your stuff.”

“But...” Jaiden was speechless, and the rest of the family burst into laughter. That clearly wasn’t what he thought was going to happen.

Later, there was a break in the happy conversation, and Xander cleared his throat. When everyone was looking at him, he said, “I know that this is a very big day already, but I have a request for you all, particularly Mum and Dad.” Larissa was intrigued – his expression made it clear that this was serious, and a big deal.

“You know that we’re planning a home birth. Well, we met with the midwife this week, and went through the birthing plan, and we found that we’ve got a problem: the living area in our apartment really isn’t big enough for the bathtub we’ve hired, and everything else that we need. So Steph and I got to talking, and we talked to her midwife, and we’re wondering whether we can do it here, in the lounge, with all of you around us.”

Larissa was stunned, but not Sophie, who straight away said, “We’d love for you to do that. There’s nothing we’d like better. In fact, we wondered whether this might happen. Steph, thanks soooo much: that’s a huge gift of love you’re giving to us, and we’ll do whatever we can do to make it as good for you as possible.”

Everyone else at the table was still speechless, Larissa could see. “Oh mum,” Steph said, “I’m so happy that we can do this. Thanks so much, I know it’s going to be a big disruption for you.”

“That’s fine, we love it,” Sophie purred, “but I’m amazed that you want us all around – you’ll be naked, and you won’t have any modesty. Or dignity.”

Steph smiled at her. “Yes, I’ll be naked. Xander’s going to be too.” She shrugged. “You’ve seen all of us already, doing yoga. As for dignity ... I’m sure it’s going to be awful and painful, and messy and smelly, and I’ll cry and scream and wet myself and be a total wreck, but I’m giving birth, and so I’m going to be proud of it all. It’ll help me if you’re all around to give me moral support. Xander and I would like that.”

Xander nodded. “Of course, we wouldn’t have been brave enough to ask to do this before Larissa changed us all, we were too afraid of other people’s rules. But this is what we really want, if it’s OK with all of you. It’s OK with you, Mum and Dad, obviously?” Yes, one look at their faces put that beyond all doubt. Xander laughed. “Yeah. And Julian and Larissa, you’re in?” Yes, Larissa loved the idea, was really touched by it, and she could see Julian was good with it too. “Great. Jaiden, and Asha, you’re included too, if you want to be. I mean, you live here, pal, but it’s up to you. It’s not something guys your age usually get involved with.”

“And Asha, after last night, you’re very welcome too,” Steph said, “but that might be a bit much to think about right now.”

Asha smiled. “Well, wow. I was there for my mum, so I know what it means – thanks so much. I’d love to be part of it, and I’m happy to just be in the background doing what I can to help.” Then she turned to Jaiden. “If that’s OK with you. How do you feel about it?”

Jaiden smiled. “Of course, it sounds really ... wonderful to me. And a bit ... challenging too. But I’ll do anything I can to help.”

Then they talked about details. They’d put all the furniture around the walls, and move Julian’s bed out to the lounge, and put the tub in there, and James had to figure out how to manage filling the bath, and warm water. Steph and Xander would move to the family home a couple of weeks before the due date, and then as soon as Steph started the labour process, Sophie would let everyone know and they’d all come home. Missing school, uni, work ... not a problem for that. Though Jaiden did wonder what their friends would think when Asha was there as well.

The only thing they didn’t figure out was about Xander’s mum; Steph thought she should be there, but she’d disapprove of having family around. And Xander being naked. Xander ... he wasn’t so sure.

What an awesome morning for one family.

Larissa made sure that she got serious hug time with Steph after breakfast, and some good kisses. What Steph had asked for had her in awe: Larissa liked being looked at, but Steph was taking things to a whole new level altogether. And people thought she was brave and confident? Nah, Steph said, I’ll never do what you do. But my family, I trust them totally. Thanks for reminding us about what is important.

They piled around Steph in the lounge and posed for a photo, so Sophie could post an update to Facebook – engagement, new girlfriend, and how proud she was of Steph – getting ready for her final run to the baby.

Then she turned to Asha, and said, “Can your mum join us for lunch?”

“Just Mum?”

“Yeah. I’d like her to talk to us here.”

Asha frowned, but went and got her phone. While she was gone, Sophie said quietly to Larissa, “I realised when I want to post this that it might be a problem when her brother finds out you’re Jaiden’s brother’s fiancée. Let’s find out how much of a problem it will be.”

Chantel turned up just as the others were heading off to church. She took one look at Asha and knew straight away. She got a huge smile on her face and gave Asha a huge hug. “Oh, so exciting!” Then she gave one to Jaiden as well.

“Is it OK if I’m part of the conversation?” Asha asked Chantel. Sure. “OK, thanks. Also, is it OK if Larissa and I do her maid work while we talk?” Chantel laughed and asked her what they had to do for maid work. Asha smiled at her and said, “Well, Larissa and I are going to empty Jaiden’s room out, and he’s going to sort out his stuff, and then we’ll put everything back in. We’re making space for me. I already slept in there last night.” She grinned at Chantel’s surprise and said, “Yeah, but we didn’t do that yet!”.

“By the way,” Larissa asked Jaiden, “is there anything in your room you need to, uhh, clean up, before we go through it?” Yeah, there was, Jaiden agreed with an embarrassed look on his face, and it only took him a minute.

For the next couple of hours, Larissa, Asha, and Chantel emptied out Jaiden’s room completely. Jaiden and Julian sorted everything into piles – throw away, give away, storage, back to the room, and stuff to look through with Asha. Then they repacked everything, with Jaiden saying where it all went.

While that was happening, Chantel asked about Larissa’s family, which lead to pretty much most of Larissa’s older history, and she got plenty of hugs from them. Then they got onto the subject of Chantel’s friend.

Her story was quite different to Larissa. The problem was her mother – a ‘self-absorbed psycho bitch’ – who made the Willow’s life hell. The only beacon of stability in her life was her dad, whom she had loved, but that went to hell the year before when her mother found out her dad was tupping some work colleague. A thoroughly nasty divorce followed through the covid period, with Willow stuck at home exposed to everything, and now she’d fallen out with her dad. This year she was stuck with her mother during the week, and only saw her dad at weekends, when she had to choose: friends, or dad. She was bitterly angry, doing badly at school, and her drinking was starting to become a problem.

Yeah, thought Larissa. Bad. And she wasn’t really sure what she could help with. Or Sal, even. She asked, and Chantel thought Willow had said she was getting counselling. She also asked about relationships – and no, Willow didn’t have one. She did have a boy, but he was a party animal, and he wasn’t up to navigating those stormy waters, so he’d fallen out of the picture.

“Well, one thing I can say is that I only made it through school because of a few really good friends who cared for me deeply and got me to do sleep overs as often as they could. Does Willow have enough friends to do that? And when they do that, can they ask their parents to spend as much time with her as possible? She needs good role models as much as possible, even though she’ll find that difficult at times. And also, Willow is old enough to make her own rules about where and when she sleeps, and she needs to do that, I reckon.”

Yeah, Chantel and Asha talked about that. That was something that happened a little, and they thought that they could ask their friendship groups to step that up a lot. They agreed that the parents needed to be on board with it, especially given that drinking was likely to be a problem during sleep overs. Beyond that? Larissa asked whether they knew any nice, emotionally mature guys who would like a high dependency relationship with really intense sex? Chantel and Asha looked at Larissa like she was crazy. Yeah, she shrugged and laughed. But that’s what Willow would deliver, she guessed. At least she knew how special Julian was. But she could see the wheels turning in Chantel’s head on that.

Finally, Jaiden and Asha sat in each other’s arms going through the inspection pile, and Chantel went home, with a lot of thanks to Larissa. Did she help? Maybe. Chantal felt better, at least. Julian and Larissa killed some time going through his stuff in his room, then ended up sitting listening to Jaiden and Asha learning about each other’s lives and families.

Everyone was home and lunch was nearly on the table when Asha’s mum arrived. Asha met her at the door with a big hug. “Hi, Mum, thanks for coming for lunch.” Then she gave her a firm kiss. Larissa could see her mum’s surprise and then happiness as she returned it.

Jaiden was at the door with her, and said, “hi, Mrs J, nice to see you again.”

He went to shake her hand, but she gave him a hug instead. “It’s nice to meet you again, Jaiden. I guess that we’re going to become good friends.”

They shared a smile, and Jaiden said, “I hope so.”

Asha introduced Kemala to everyone. Larissa was surprised; from what Asha had said, she expected someone who appeared more embedded in her own culture, but no, not so. Kemala didn’t look any different to any other mother, really. Then they all sat down at the table. For a few minutes, discussion was casual as they talked about things at school – a nice safe common subject. Then they were talking about Asha’s family; she had her older brother, Taman, and three younger siblings, one a surprise girl named Mega that came along late and was only four years old. “Super Cute”, said Asha, and her mum smiled. Asha’s dad worked as a department store manager, and they were from Indonesia, though Kemala’s dad was a European. Her mother was a maid in her father’s house, she told them, but luckily, she married a lovely man from a village after she got pregnant, and they managed to emigrate to Australia.

Of course, given Kemala’s recent birth experience, and Steph’s obvious pregnancy, it wasn’t long before they were talking about that, and then Steph got around to mentioning the birth arrangements they’d agreed to earlier that morning. Kemala was intrigued that she wanted all her a family around. While they were talking about this, and how Steph felt about it, Steph mentioned that the invitation included Asha too.

Kemala cried. They could see that she was trying not to, but she did. It was a surprise, really. Sophie was first to respond; she got some tissues and knelt down next to her, offering her a hug. Kemala smiled at her and gave her a quick hug.

She turned to Asha, sitting next to her, and hugged her. “I’m sorry, dear, that just caught me by surprise.” Then she looked around and shrugged. “I’m sorry, everyone. You’ve been lovely and welcoming, thank you. It’s just that ... I knew that the way I would know whether Jaiden meant to treat Asha properly would be by watching Asha interact with Jaiden’s sisters, how serious they were. Inviting her to be part of a birth ... it can’t possibly get more serious than that. I know how special it was for me that Asha was with me when Mega was born. It just caught me by surprise, that’s all.” Then she smiled at Asha. “Congratulations, my special baby. Quick work, though. But I can see by your surprise that you didn’t ask me here to talk about that. So now I really wonder, what is it you want to talk to me about?”

“You’re right, and we do have something we need to talk to you about, I’m afraid,” Sophie told her. “We like Asha, as you see, though it’s totally up to Jaiden and Asha to decide what they want to do. But as long as Asha is spending time with us, then sooner or later a problem will come up, and we wanted to talk to you about it before it does.” Kemala nodded but was obviously mystified. As was Asha too, Larissa noticed.

“Asha tells me that you heard about the party where there were hash cookies and a bunch of kids went to hospital a few months ago. You remember that?” Kemala nodded – yeah, she heard about it.

Larissa could see when Asha figured out where this was going, and then Asha said, “So mum, that party ... what Taman didn’t tell you was that he was at that party, with some girl.” Yes, it was very clear from her face that she didn’t know that part. “Yes, he came home late one night, and he was drunk, and I was the only one up, doing homework, and he told me about it. But then he begged me not to tell you.”

Kemala was clearly troubled by this, and they let her process it. After a moment, she said to Asha, “Difficult for you; why didn’t you say something?”

“If it had been a once off, I would’ve, but you know how he lives.” Kemala nodded. She did know. OK, so where is this going, she asked, and Asha said, “So one more thing you probably didn’t hear, the girl that stopped the party, she was just wearing her underwear for the whole thing.”

“No, that I did hear about. From someone else. She was dancing in her underwear, and then she stopped the party, and looked after everyone, until the ambulances came. She sounded like a remarkable young woman.”

Now it was Asha’s turn to be surprised. But that did kind of make it easy. “Well, mum, I’d like to introduce you to that very remarkable young woman. Larissa?”

Larissa gave her a diffident smile. “Yeah, that was me.”

They waited for Kemala to think that through. Surprise, concern, amusement, resignation, they all flitted across her face. It took her a while, and then she turned to Sophie and said, “Thank you for letting me know. I understand why you did that, and thanks.” Then she turned to Larissa and said, “Obviously I’d like to know why you were dancing in your underwear, but you don’t need to tell me.” Then she turned back to Sophie. “Clearly, you’re worried that me, or my husband, will be concerned that Asha will be led astray by a woman like that.” Yes, they nodded. She turned to Asha, “Tell me, daughter who rings me up to inform me she’s going to sleep in a young man’s bed, is Larissa going to lead you astray?”

Asha smiled, and answered, “I know why both she and Julian did that, and I’ll tell you, if that’s OK with Larissa.” Yeah, it was, so she explained, and then said, “I think Larissa is awesome, and I want to learn from her how to be a passionate, devoted, confident and strong woman who takes control of her life and has great relationships. Just like I already learnt from you. But is she going to turn me into a girl who dances in her underwear at parties? If that was to happen, it’d be because I decided I wanted to do it, not because of Larissa. And if I did, I’d tell you about it. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. And will she turn me into someone who sleeps around? Not at all, and she’s not like that herself.”

Kemala sighed. “Yes, that’s pretty much the answer I expected from you. And I believe you. I wouldn’t believe any of your siblings, especially Taman, if they said that. And I respect you greatly, Larissa; your story is very much my mother’s story. Asha, I never told you her full story because it’s pretty sad and nasty in places, but it’s time I did now. But you are right about my husband, and Taman; they will not understand, and probably not try to understand, but I’ll have to try. Still, I am concerned for you, my girl. Since we’re talking in front of Jaiden’s family, I fear that you are being too confident without the experience to back it up when you tell me you’re sleeping in a young man’s bed for a first date, even if it’s this lovely young man,” she said, looking at Jaiden.

Asha pursed her lips and glanced at Jaiden. “We kissed this morning. Just once. But then I understand why you were concerned about dating. Woo, Jaiden! Good thing I did it in front of his family, for fun. I’ve talked to both Larissa and Mrs C about it since. And I was going to talk about it with you, now that I understand better.”

Kemala smiled at her and gave her a big hug. “Oh my special baby, you’re growing up quickly. I just pray that you keep your head on right.” Then she turned to Jaiden. “Please look after my most special treasure. Can I rely on you for that?”

He nodded and smiled. “I’ll do my best to look after her for you. We had a lovely night, and I was as caught by surprise by the kiss as she was, and I already talked to Dad about it. My family will ... help ... me if I don’t look after her right,” he said with a smile, looking around the table, and they all laughed.

Kemala smiled. “Thank you. Sophie, thanks for letting me know all this. I will think about it.”

Lunch was over, so they cleaned up the kitchen. Kemala talked to Jaiden and Asha for a while, and was shown Jaiden’s newly clean room, and then she talked to Sophie for a while, and then Asha said goodbye to everyone, hugs and kisses all around, and they left.

After they left, Sophie said, “I feel for her. And it may be rough for Asha. Jaiden, you will need to be understanding if she has trouble getting to see you or dealing with her emotions. I think her mum might have to be here when Asha is here for a while, just to keep the peace at her home. If that happens, you’re not to complain, got it?”

Jaiden nodded. He got it.

That week, Larissa had lunch with Michelle. They’d run into each other on campus not long after they first met and found they had a shared gap between lectures, so they had lunch together every week unless Michelle was at a birth. They’d been at lunch the week before when Michelle got the call to go another one. So naturally, Larissa asked her how it had gone.

Michelle got a sexy smile on her face, and said, “Oh, it went great. Lovely baby boy. And the most fun I’ve had at a birth yet.” Fun? Michelle laughed at the expression on Larissa’s face; ‘fun’ wasn’t a thing to think of at a birth. “Yeah, it was a home birth, and the mother had two attendants, her man, and her ‘best friend’, and they were all naked and they kept her as hot as they could as long as they could. Sexy hot, I mean: massage, kissing, touching her all over, coming good. They were a threesome for sure. And it seemed to really help her, actually. She had less pain than usual, I reckon, and she was just really happy. Not easy, could never be, and still hard at the end, but it was really intimate and lovely. They had a lovely cuddle naked at the end, beautiful photos. I think I’ll try doing something like that when my time comes. Maybe just Tim, but we’ll see. Mum would love to do that with me, I’m sure.”

Larissa looked at her, intrigued. “Is that a thing, is it? And it was OK with the midwife?” No need to ask Michelle whether it was OK with her, Larissa knew.

“Well, we try to get mothers to be as comfortable as they can, and to have their partner and closest family and friends involved, and massage is always good. So we’re used to seeing a lot of intimate things, but that was much more than I’ve seen before. The mother is usually naked, of course, and for home births it’s not terribly unusual to see their partners get naked too, and lots of massage and kissing is good, but this went much further than that. I talked to the midwife about it, and she said she sees stuff like that occasionally, and she’s fine with almost anything if it’s helping the mother, though not all midwives are. She told me that’s not good to ignore the sex part of the whole birth thing, though most people kinda do. And she told me that one mother she was helping had an orgasm right at the end.”

Larissa looked at her, astonished.

“Yeah, it’s not that common, but it happens, surprise! Sounds like a good surprise to me, but I looked it up, and yeah, it happens maybe one percent of the time, though usually the mother never says anything about it. I mean, you don’t do anything to make it happen, it just does.”

Larissa’s mind was blown. Really?

But then she was thinking: Steph’s turn was coming. Xander could be up for something like that, and she knew Steph was still looking around for any ideas how to make the birth easier. Would she do something like that the sex thing? Yeah, she was chronically horny, so yes, even in front of family, maybe.

“Can you do me a favour? Can you tell Julian’s sister Steph about that whole thing with the partner and the sex thing? She’s got about eight weeks to go, and she’s doing a home birth and looking for ideas to help.”

“Sure. I can do that. What’s her number?”

A few weeks after that, Larissa had her first day with the local vet rescue service. Lectures had stopped, and exams were about to start, so it was good to take a break and find some motivation. The first half of the day was pretty much what she expected: paperwork, training around safety, sexual harassment, dealing with the public, since that was a big part of the job, and ethics. All important stuff, but hard work. And scheduling her Covid vaccination, since she’d just jumped up the priority list as a first responder. Happily, they took pity on her, and sent her out on the road for the afternoon.