Chapter 3

York, England. February 1067

Marion and Luke were exhausted when they got back to York. They hadn’t been home in over a month and were looking forward to hot showers followed by beds that didn’t have more than their weight in bugs living in them. All of their bedding was regularly cleaned with a steam cleaner that sanitized the bedding of all bugs. Returning late in the evening, very few people saw them.

When Marion and Luke entered their bedroom, they found Gabriella and Alice lying on the bed. Both were nude, and Alice was molded to Gabriella’s body. Luke and Marion looked at each other and smiled. It was comforting to see that two of their favorite people so comfortable with each other. Both went to the bathroom to get a shower. By that time of evening, and being winter, the water was cold, so their shower was quick. All that was left to do was scoot Gabriella and Alice over so Marion and Luke could lie down. Marion fell asleep on top of Luke with Little Luke tucked deep inside her, leading to exciting dreams for both of them.

Luke and Marion were woken up in the morning with a loud squeal. Gabriella noticed they were home and started hugging them, with Marion getting a deep kiss, just like what Luke was getting from Alice. Marion was the first to get any words out:

“So, was something going on in here last night?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Alice and Gabriella looked at each other, and Alice sighed as they stood up:

“Yes, Gabriella and I made love for the first time last night. We were both so horny, and we didn’t know when you two would be back. It started with just talking, but as we poured our feelings out, one thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were kissing fiercely. By the time we caught ourselves, we were too far gone, so we just said fuck it, and went all the way.”

By the time she finished, Alice was worried. Neither Luke nor Marion’s expression had changed. She noticed that Gabriella had the same worried look on her face. As Alice was about to start crying, Luke and Marion looked at each other. Marion had no problems with Alice and Gabriella making love to each other. In fact, she had been hoping that they would so Alice could finish her transformation into their little family. They looked back at Gabriella and Alice with warm smiles on their faces. Marion ran to her lover while Luke ran to his. They both wrapped their lover up with a hug. All four of them were so happy to see each other. As Luke was getting ready to release Alice, he saw Mackenzie toddling in from her room. Luke ran over, swept her up, and spun around, causing her to giggle. Luke then carried her over to the ladies, and they engaged in a five-way hug.

All too soon, the hug had to be broken. All the adults had plenty of work to catch up on, with Marion having even more now because she was the Queen of England. Alice had to get to the hospital, and Luke had to get out to the military base outside York. Since Marion needed more room, Luke moved all military offices to the nearby base. It was a twenty-minute horseback ride from the castle, so it wasn’t too bad. This also gave Luke a little time away from Marion daily. With his officers gaining more experience, he doubted he would have to spend too much time in the field unless things were desperate.

Marion and Luke found themselves buried under mountains of paperwork and were still trying to catch up when the sun came up the following day. Luke crashed on his office floor while Marion managed to get back to bed with Gabriella’s help. Luke only napped for a couple of hours before returning to work again.

As he read the reports, a clear picture of what was happening in Scotland emerged. The army surprised the clans when they didn’t go into winter quarters. Most of the larger settlements in the highlands were now under Marion’s control, and most supply convoys got through without being attacked. It helped tremendously that wherever the army went, there were massive investments in the area’s infrastructure, which provided jobs for the locals and kept them out of trouble. The other defusing decision was to rule with a light touch. As long as everyone behaved and followed the rules, Marion’s troops left them alone. When someone broke the rules, the troops came down hard on them. Luke wondered if he could withdraw his front-line forces from Scotland and replace them with local police.

After debating with himself for a few hours, he decided to leave the front-line troops in Scotland for at least another month. Then he would revisit the issue. As for the rest of England, everything was quiet for the time being. The second division was at almost sixty percent strength, and the third was just forming. Things looked good, but Luke knew something would happen before too long. One of the reports he came across gave him pause but for a different reason. Colonel Fischer was reported killed in a surprise raid, and his second-in-command had taken over. What was suspicious was this was the only “enemy action” the regiment had seen. The Earl’s troops had surrendered as soon as the cavalry regiment showed up, and many had enlisted in Marion’s army afterward. It wasn’t surprising that the garrison surrendered because, along with the surrender demands, was news that the Earl was being stripped of all his lands and titles. After debating the issue, Luke decided to leave well enough alone. He didn’t want to dive into what happened during the raid but suspected Fischer was killed by his own troops. Fischer was an ambitious but stupid officer hired based on several recommendations. Marion had been so short of officers at the time, so she didn’t have much choice in hiring him.

Thinking about Colonel Fischer, Luke was reminded of the Von Manstein Matrix, which postulates four types of officers: lazy and stupid, which are harmless and good for things like Army Historian or other non-vital roles. Hard-working but stupid officers are toxic and must be fired. Hard-working and intelligent officers make excellent staff officers since attention to detail is necessary. The last time was the intelligent and lazy officer. These officers were the best for the line and general staff since they could be counted to be creative to avoid doing any more than necessary.

Before Luke left that evening, he sent a message to Pollyanna telling her that he wanted to see her in the morning to talk about naval bases. He knew that Marion needed a navy, and she would need it quickly. Some of his paperwork was Gabriella’s most recent threat assessment. In it, she detailed how the Duchess of Brittany was looking to invade England, and several other rulers were looking at paying Marion’s enemies to keep fighting, invade, or revolt. A navy would help keep the continental threat at bay until Marion gained complete control over the British Islands. Luke knew they would need ships like cutters, patrol boats, destroyers, and cruisers for the navy. Ships like battleships would be a massive waste at the time, but he could see in a few years building a few to help fight off larger continental powers.

Luke was utterly rung out when he rode back into York that evening. His mind was fried from digesting all the paperwork, and his muscles were stiff. ‘It sucks getting old,’ he thought as he rode into the city. Passing the bathhouse, he figured, ‘what the hell, I could use a soak.’ and stopped in. He knew he could soak in the heat, which would loosen his muscles and stiff joints.

Walking into the bathing area, everyone noticed him. First, he was much taller than anyone else in the pool, second, he was heavily scarred, and third, he had very well-defined muscles. This he was proud of because Luke had been gaining weight before being hurtled back in time, but now he was back to the same weight as when he was in the Marines. Luke swam a couple of laps before finding a comfortable spot to relax. Several young ladies approached him and introduced themselves as he sat there. Luke enjoyed the attention and was going to inform the ladies that he was happily married but thought better of it. Realizing this was the perfect opportunity to discover what the people thought about Marion, he kept his mouth shut. By keeping his ties with her a secret, he could find out exactly what the average person thought about his wife.

Through the ladies, Luke learned that while everyone was happy about the economy, a number of people were still furious that Marion had a female lover. The only things that kept them from saying anything were the threat that Luke and the army posed and the fact that the economy was doing well. It also seemed most people didn’t care or thought that Luke must be impotent; that would explain why Marion had to have a lover. Luke found it amusing to hear the ladies tell him this and wondered if they had any idea of who they were talking to. None of the ladies’ presents could figure out why a woman would need a lover when she had the ultimate husband in the form of Luke. Listening to the women, Luke had to work hard to keep from smiling because they gushed about how handsome and brave the general was. This did wonders for Luke’s ego, leading to the second battle for Luke trying to keep his ego in check, which turned into one of the most challenging battles he had ever fought.

Finally, Luke figured that it was time to leave. His fingers looked like prunes, he felt clean, and the kinks were gone. Climbing out, Luke turned back to the women. Their eyes were glued to his cock because Luke had better equipment than any man they had seen. From Luke’s point of view, it was better to have the ladies eyeing his cock rather than asking questions about the scars on his back.

“Well, ladies, I need to get going, but it has been a pleasure talking with you.”

“Believe us, the pleasure was ours,” they cooed.

Luke blushed as he turned away, shaking his head. He didn’t want to tell them who he was in case he might need to get candid information again. That and all this had been fun for him. It had been a while since he had spied a natural bush and found it arousing. Lumbering back to where his clothes were, he got dressed. Since Luke wasn’t in uniform, nobody recognized him; even a couple of the soldiers that had just come in didn’t recognize him. Luke was pleased to see that everyone respected the soldiers. The last thing he wanted to do was to create an army where the population and military didn’t trust each other. Worse if they hated each other.

Getting back, he found Marion dead to the world with her head on a stack of papers and drool coming out of her mouth. He tried to wake her but only got some mumbling, so he gently picked her up and carried her back to their chambers. Just as he brought her to bed, Alice and Gabriella came in. They saw what Luke was doing and smiled at him. Luke noticed that Gabriella was getting bigger and helped her into a seat.

“How’s it going, Gabby?”

“Pretty good. This litter bugger is still beating me up, but Alice says everything looks good.”

“Any idea on how much longer?”

Now Alice answered.

“Not much longer. I’ve ordered her not to leave the city and stay off horses.”

“How about you, Alice? I haven’t had an opportunity to talk with you yet.”

“I’m doing pretty good, Luke. There’s one thing I want to tell you, though; I think I’m pregnant too.” Luke smiled warmly at her, and Alice felt her knees get weak. “I missed my last period; I think this one was a Christmas present from you.”

“Merry Christmas, Alice,” chirped Luke.

“Shut up, Luke,” Alice snapped back, but her smile and pink-tipped ears gave her away.

Luke decided to go down to the workshop for a while. His mind was still working at full speed, and he needed to relax. The conversation with the ladies in the pool was still going through his head. He knew most people wouldn’t like or even understand that Marion was bisexual. Many people from his time didn’t care for bisexuals, and he was in a much more sexually repressive era. If the hatred of Marion’s sexuality spread, Luke could have a problem on his hands.

While thinking, Luke worked on designing and testing steel-toe boots for the army. Figuring that he only had a few weeks of work left, he could make a large test batch for the soldiers to test. That testing would last a couple of months, and if everything went well, he could start production. If not, it was back to the drawing board.

After a couple of hours, he decided to go to bed. When he got there, he found Alice still up. She was reading in Marion’s personal library, and Luke wasn’t surprised to discover that she was reading one of Pollyanna’s new “romance novels.” Alice often proofread Polly’s works before they were published. This was her third book, with the first two being huge successes, primarily due to Marion doing a bit of quiet promoting for Pollyanna. Marion helped promote Pollyanna’s books to encourage people to read and let them know that it was ok to dream, even if those dreams were naughty.

What did surprise him was that she was naked and, if he had to guess, had been rubbing her pussy because he could see hints of nectar on the insides of her thighs. When Alice saw Luke enter, she gave him a sultry smile and her clit a couple of good flicks that sent her over the edge. Luke smiled as he waited for Alice to recover. He discovered that without ready access to porn, many of the people he met seemed hornier than people from his time. If he had to guess, they had a more challenging time getting off, especially the women. One part of that was that without porn, there wasn’t any extra stimulation, and two, the church preached against any form of sex other than missionary with no foreplay. While Luke had to admit that position had its place, doing it that way every time got boring fast. Doing the nasty in the dark just sucked as far as Luke was concerned. He loved to watch his partner as they made love, with one of his favorite activities being watching Marion’s breasts bounce as she rode him. At least in the era he was in, many of the sexual diseases that became prevalent later hadn’t infected people yet.

“So, you just couldn’t wait for me?” asked Luke as Alice was recovering.

“Nope, I’m just getting warmed up, darling. I’m going to drain all your fluids and only stop when you are just a dried husk.”

Luke chuckled at that. Usually, it took at least two of the ladies to wear him down, but the look in Alice’s eye told him she would give it her best shot. She bounced up and started stripping Luke. He had never done it in a library but could easily imagine Alice as the naughty librarian. If the librarian in his school had been anything like Alice, he would have spent many more hours there.

It only took moments for Alice’s limber, strong fingers to strip Luke to his birthday suit. That action was enough to send extra blood into his favorite appendage. Never mind that the person stripping him was already in her birthday suit and was as beautiful as any other woman besides his wife. As soon as Alice had Luke naked, she pushed him back until his legs hit a chair, and he sat down. This chair was armless, had been placed there by Alice, and was perfect for her plans. The first thing to do was to moisten Luke’s cock a bit, with a quick blowjob being ideal for the task. The sight of Alice’s redhead bobbing up and down on his cock was incredibly arousing for Luke, and he quickly got even harder. Before Alice had gone on for a minute, Luke had to recite the periodic table to keep himself from blowing his load too early.

Within minutes, Alice was happy, so she stood up and straddled Luke while he sat in the chair. As she sat down on him, she reached under her and, with a firm grip on Little Luke, guided him into her tunnel. Slowly, she slid down his pole, thoroughly enjoying the sensation of her tight little pussy being stretched. Alice gazed deep into Luke’s eyes and saw nothing but love, causing her heart to melt, and she began to cry. Luke thought he was hurting her and tried to lift her off, but she clamped down and refused to move. It was her kiss that convinced Luke that she wasn’t hurting. As they finished their kiss, Alice began to ride Luke rolling her hips and flexing her muscles. This almost made Luke cum too early again, and he only held off his orgasm by the thinnest of margins. To even things up a bit, he reached down behind Alice and, using her juices to lube one of his fingers, slid that finger into her arse.

Early on, they discovered that Alice’s arse was highly erogenous, giving her extreme pleasure when Luke played back there. They found his cock was too big for her, but his fingers weren’t. As his finger slipped into her anal opening, Alice began to tremble. The trembling increased when Luke started sawing his finger in and out of her ass while doing the same thing with his cock in her hot cunt. Before long, Alice was shaking uncontrollably, and her scarlet flush went from her face to her stomach. Luke knew they were both close, so he reached between them and flicked her clit to push them over the edge. A couple of times was all it took for Alice to explode and take Luke along for the ride.

They just sat there and tried to clear the haze from their brains for the next few minutes. Their orgasms had short-circuited them, so it took a bit to regain their bearings. Once they were stable, Alice stood up and laughed as Luke’s cum ran down her legs. Luke got up and gathered his clothes; he was too tired to get dressed again. While Luke was gathering his clothes, Alice got a wet washcloth and cleaned her pussy before cleaning Luke’s cock with her mouth. Now clean, they headed to bed, where they found Marion molded to Gabriella. This time Alice slept on top of Luke.

When Luke woke up, he found his cock had worked itself back into Alice’s tunnel, and Marion was jacking him off. He looked at her and found her eyes full of love. This look was enough to set Luke off, and he fired into Alice’s tunnel, waking her up.

“Wow, now that’s the way to wake up!” she exclaimed

Alice sat up and turned to face Marion with no expression on her face. Marion was concerned that she had gone too far, but Alice smiled with lust in her eyes and pulled Marion in for a steaming hot kiss. This kiss almost made Marion cream herself, and her hands locked onto Alice’s head to keep the kiss going. The room temperature rose quickly as Marion and Alice’s hands started finding their way to more interesting parts of their anatomy.

About that time, Gabby struggled out of bed and waddled to the bathroom. As she entered the bathroom, a contraction knocked her off her feet; Alice was at her side in a second, playtime being instantly forgotten. As Alice entered her doctor mode, Marion held Gabby’s hand, and Luke got everyone’s clothes ready. Once Alice had finished her initial assessment, everyone dressed and headed toward the hospital. This was just in case Gabby needed a c-section. They wouldn’t be in the hospital but in an adjoining building built like a small hotel where Gabriella would have a small room for privacy but still have medical support. The building even had central heat and air conditioning to make it as comfortable as possible. Marion would have loved to stay with Gabriella, but she had too much work. Gabby understood and kissed Marion before she left. Luke, however, wasn’t allowed to leave; Gabriella wasn’t feeling too forgiving of him. After all, if you asked her, it was all HIS fault that she was in this condition. Luke used his pocket watch to keep track of her contractions. His watch was only accurate to about five minutes a day, but it would work perfectly for this task. The air conditioning was made possible by burying long, thin tubes underground. These tubes circulated water, which was then put through a heat exchanger to cool the air entering the hospital.

Luke stayed the day and helped Gabby as much as possible. That evening disaster struck when her baby got stuck in the birth canal, and Gabriella panicked. She had lost friends and an older sister when this happened to them while she was growing up, and she didn’t want to die. Luckily Alice was there and rushed Gabby into surgery. Luke was right by her side, holding her hand and feeding her ice chips. Gabby was cursing up a storm while she was crying, and Luke thought some of his old marine drill sergeants could have taken lessons in the art of swearing from Gabriella.

Finally, everything was over, and Gabriella was the proud mother of a healthy baby boy named Carl Lucas MacDougall. Gabby and Luke decide to name their kid after Prussian general Carl Von Clausewitz, one of Luke’s favorite authors to quote. Luke was still everything evil in the world for putting her thru such an ordeal, and the looks that she was shooting him dared him to deny that fact. He wasn’t too worried about the looks he was getting from Gabby because his father had warned him many years before that look was something almost every new father had to endure, but she would get over it shortly.

That evening, everyone in the group visited Gabriella and Carl. Luke had been let out of the doghouse as Gabriella regained her strength. Gabby did have to put up with some harassment from Alice when she learned that one of Gabby’s older sisters had died the same way. If Alice had known, she would have insisted on skipping the attempted natural birth and gone straight to a c-section. Once everyone else had left, Marion stayed behind with her lover and curled up with her to sleep. Luke had left earlier to catch up on paperwork and didn’t expect to be done until the next day.

Luke had to delay his meeting with Pollyanna because of Gabby giving birth. Now it was time to get back to work. The day after Carl entered the world, Pollyanna reviewed plans for four naval bases in Luke’s office. The main base would be at the head of the Humber Estuary, placing it close enough to York to benefit from the city’s industry but far enough from the sea to protect it from storms.

Just as Luke had discussed with Marion in London, plans were made for additional naval yards in Portsmouth, Plymouth, and London. Due to equipment storages, the yards in Portsmouth, Plymouth, and London would have to wait until the Humber yard was completed. This would also allow Luke to link the other three cities with railroads, which he estimated would take at least a year. His company already possessed the land, but there was a severe shortage of steel. Luke and Pollyanna would work all day on the plans and had an outline done by nightfall. Now they had to travel to the Humber to find the perfect spot. Plans were made for them to travel there by the end of the week. They estimated the distance to be about fifty kilometers, and they would make half the journey by rail.

Gabby was pissed when she got the news that evening. The last thing she wanted was to be away from Luke, but Marion calmed her down by kissing her until Gabby wasn’t pissed anymore. Once Gabby was calm, Luke explained why he and Pollyanna had to travel. If it was any consultation with Gabriella, Matthew wasn’t happy either because he would be left to care for the twins while Pollyanna was away. However, Marion did provide them with a governess, which made things easier for Matt.