Chapter 24

Daddy volunteered to run us to the restaurant before going on to his own choice of a hotel meal, and he dropped us off five minutes early, so we sat at the bar sipping a single drink each, until our table was ready for us.

At last, the wine waiter guided us to our table and persuaded us to have his choice of a table wine to enjoy during the meal. It was a simple Sauvignon Blanc, tasty and flavourful, but not too expensive.

Janet appeared with the menus, and was full of her packing task, burbling about how she kept finding things she had forgotten about. I tried to steer her back to the menus, and she reduced the chatter to occasional asides to Sandy or Georgie, girl to girl. I could see what Mr Thompson meant.

The rest of the meal went off well, and as we were ordering our coffees Sandy told her that if she was fully packed, we could pick her up tomorrow afternoon. The morning was scheduled as a visit to church, where we expected to be quizzed about our honeymoon.

“I filled all the suitcases, Sandy. Do you think there will be enough room in the car?”

Sandy mused, remembering the number of cases, “Hmm ... If I came on my own, and the taxi driver helped load the vehicle, we can manage fine. Bob and Georgie can wait at the house for us, and get the kettle on for a cuppa. See you at around two o’clock, if that is fine by you?”

“Two o-clock is fine, as I have a the day off on Sunday.”

“Do you go to church?”

“Sometimes, as long as I don’t have to record my name for them, as my publicly-known surname is fake. Why do you ask?”

“We got married in Old Gourock parish church; you know the place – you were there for the service - and that is where we will be on Sunday morning, meeting the congregation as a married couple and my sister. If you come along, we can ‘accidentally’ meet you and be publicly known as friends from that point.”

Georgie put in, “But what about the staff here that know she has met us?”

Janet reassured her, “They are mostly R.C.s, with the owners being of Italian extraction, so they would have little connection with the parish congregation.”

“Good. I’ll be there at two then.”

The next morning, Daddy Thompson collected us in his car and drove us to church, dropping us off at the front door while he went to park his car. The minister was at the door to welcome parishioners, and he greeted us with a smile.

“Welcome, Mr and Mrs McIntyre, and Miss Thompson! I trust you had a pleasant honeymoon?”

Sandy and I beamed our response, while Georgie spoke up, “I did my best to keep them under control, Mr McAllister. We did a lot of sightseeing around Edinburgh.”

“Edinburgh, eh? Nice place for a break. Good hotel?”

I spoke this time.

“Excellent hotel, Reverend. They even upgraded us from two rooms to a small suite, as a winter bargain, so we did well.”

I wanted to make it clear that Georgina had her own room at the hotel. He didn’t have to know that she hardly used it in all the time we were there.

Sandy decided to add to the picture.

“My new husband even carried me over the threshold into our hotel room! Wasn’t that sweet of him?”

Reverend McAllister gave me another happy smile.

“A lovely touch, Robert. A nice start to your marriage.”

Georgie gushed, “They are so happy together, minister. I am so pleased they fit in so well,” and then she faltered with a blush at the unintended ‘double entendre’ she had blurted out. If he noticed, he ignored it and moved to welcome another couple while we entered.

We took our seats at the regular Thompson family pew, and Daddy Thompson joined us a moment later, muttering about how hard it was to find a parking spot near the church. “It is not as if they are all churchgoers,” he complained. “They are mostly folk in flats with no garage for their car.”

I let this pass by me, for my family lived in a flat, and if we had a car we would similarly be without a garage for it and forced to park it in the street. I had learned to keep quiet about anything controversial where possible. Life was simpler that way.

I saw no sign of Janet, for she had slipped in at the back so as to be unnoticed.

The service went well, except when the minister, just before the sermon, welcomed back ‘our newly married couple’ to the congregation. That set off a ripple of applause from his audience, while we nodded politely to all those who smiled at us. They were mainly folk who had attended the reception or who otherwise knew the Thompson family from church events. Daddy beamed with pleasure as the recognised patriarch of the family.

After the service there was an informal chat over coffee or tea, and we were quizzed about where we had spent our honeymoon. Some were surprised we had chosen Edinburgh rather than Majorca or some other exotic spot, but Sandy brazenly informed them “We didn’t go there for the views, but for the comfort and good food. The hotel was warm enough, no matter what the weather was like outside, and Bob and I got to know each other better; much better.”

This suggestive phrasing achieved everything she hoped, and the embarrassed parishioners moved off and allowed another questioner to speak to us. At last Janet was in front of us, saying, “I am Janet Cordiner, and new to this church. I wanted to thank you, Georgina, for getting me the invitation to the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony; you were all marvellous and word perfect, and the reception dinner was delicious. Please introduce us, Georgie.”

Georgina formally declared, “This is Robert McIntyre and his wife Alexandra, my little sister. They prefer being known as Bob and Sandy. Folks, this is my friend Janet Cordiner, a waitress at a local restaurant and a lovely girl as well. I wangled her an invite to the wedding as she doesn’t have family anywhere near and she enjoys good company.”

I smiled at Janet, shaking her hand and welcoming her, and Sandy told her, “If you are on your own, Janet, you must come and see our new house and have a long chat with Georgie. Bob, could Janet come and visit us this afternoon? I’d love to show her around, and she could stay for dinner if she likes, if she lives alone.”

We were interrupted by Daddy Thompson, saying, “Excuse me, folks, but I am going to fetch the car, so be ready in five minutes to leave. Sorry to intrude, ma’am,” he apologised to Janet.

She replied, “No, I was just going, thank you all the same.”

We drove back to the Thompson house for lunch, and the girls got busy making pasta cheese which we ate with spoons from soup bowls twenty minutes later. It was simple yet filling, the cheddar giving it a tasty cheesy flavour. When we were sitting with our cups of coffee and home-baked cake afterwards, Sandy mentioned to her father, “We have a friend coming to be shown round our house at two o’clock, Daddy. We either have to leave soon if we walk, or later if you feel like driving us there. I know it is not far, but I don’t want to be late in welcoming a visitor.”
Mister Thompson volunteered to drive us round, so we took our time with our drinks, and Daddy delivered us there at ten minutes before two. We waved him off with our thanks, and while Sandy and Georgie opened the house and got things ready, I stood at the roadside, waiting. Pretty well on two, a taxi drove up and Janet got out. I welcomed her again as a visiting friend. Before she managed to speak to the driver, I was there to pay him and ask him to come back at three-thirty for another job. As he drove off, I escorted Janet round to the back of the house and into our now open door, telling her this was our proper house door.

I explained that the next taxi trip would be to collect the suitcases from her digs.

Once inside, she remarked on how new the house smelled. Sandy grinned, saying, “Redecoration, Janet. It is amazing what a lick of paint does for a house. Come and we can start with the kitchen. It has everything you could think of.”

They went off to the kitchen, leaving me and Georgie by ourselves. It was only moments before we were kissing and cuddling; Georgie whispering, “I want to be fucked soon, Bob. We can do that while Sandy goes with Janet to collect her stuff.”

I whispered back, “You have become insatiable, Georgie my love, my wife. Are you always going to be like this?”

“Take my word for it, my darling man. Don’t imagine I am going to let you off when I get pregnant, either. I looked it up, and it seems that pregnant women want more sex, not less.”

“Oh, my. A sex addict in the family?”

“I have been doing without for too many years, Bob. I am catching up now, that’s all.”

We separated in time for Sandy and Janet to appear in the corridor, Janet still enthusing about the kitchen dishwasher.

“I am used to seeing a commercial one in the restaurant, but at home? This is amazing! What next?”

“I think the lounge, Janet. We relax here during the day. The kitchen is large enough for us to eat there, but Bob is toying with building an extension, so we will probably add a dining room then. The original owner was a single man, we gather, so he did not think he needed a dining room.”

They walked into the lounge, and Janet gasped at the furniture.

“That looks like an expensive set of lounge furniture, Sandy!”

“It is old, but very serviceable, Janet. Bob thinks it is an antique set and probably very valuable, so we don’t have any food or drinks while sitting there, in case of accidental spills.”

“I can agree with that. You wouldn’t want to harm such wonderful upholstery. I like your art on the wall. Prints, I presume?”

“One is a print, we are fairly sure. That one is an original, we think, and probably worth a bomb.”

“The rest of the furniture looks modern. Recent additions, Sandy?”

“Most of it bought not long before we married, Janet. These just need the normal care and attention.”

“What about the books, Sandy?”

“Again, take care, for some of these are rare books and so may be valuable in a specialist auction sale.”

“You seem to have an amazing collection of valuable antiques, Sandy.”

“Yes, we do, but we are hanging on to it all for the time being, as we have investments in companies that should help us with future expenses, should you have children. Children are expensive to bring up, needing new clothes every few months as they grow, as well as their own beds and bedding, feeding and all their other nurturing. The biggest expenditure is investing in their learning; teaching them to become decent human beings. That is not money, it is time spent wisely, being good parents.”

“Are you looking forward to becoming a mother, Sandy?”

“Yes, but only once I have graduated with a business degree that will help me to get a well-paying job. I am the only one who has to wait. You and Georgie don’t have to wait, do you?”

“You want me to get pregnant immediately?”

“Well, Bob wants to be a father before long, and you and Georgie are the volunteers to be mothers of them while I am studying.”

“Volunteers? That sounds weird.”

“Almost every woman volunteers to become a mother at some time, surely? The only non-volunteers are those who were raped and didn’t have an abortion. I suppose some wives were brow-beaten by an abusive husband into having children, but that is rare. You want to have children, don’t you?”
“Well, yes, since you put it that way.”

“Then what better chance than with Bob as the father? He will treat you as a wife in all ways possible, for Bob is a good fellow through and through. He may be younger than you or I, but he is no longer inexperienced, and he has learned how to cope with massive changes in his life.

He met me by accident and that hit us both in the same way, and it was accidental that Georgie was emotionally scarred by a man in the past but ready for a good man, and Bob happened to hit the right buttons for her after he fell for me. I am his legal wife, and Georgie is his unofficial second wife.

You are on the run from parents who did not have your personal desires and wishes at the forefront of their minds, but now you can live your life as you want to. Joining this family doesn’t stop you having a job if you want, and if you want to study, that is open to you also, but your first commitment is having Bob’s child.

Every one of us has to make decisions in life, sometimes at short notice – like you deciding to escape your family – but the decisions you make must be yours. We are offering you a chance to join this family. Do you want to make that choice, and prepare to start that baby? We need to know your answer before we bring you here to live, Janet.”

“Sandy, I had already subliminally accepted that position as my best option for future happiness, but you have set my mind at rest about you all. I am ready to accept Bob as my child’s father when it comes. Will I really be his wife in effect?”

“Most assuredly. Being a wife has responsibilities on both sides, but Bob will treat you well, and you will not want for important things in your life. Falling in love is a useful extra, and most women fall in love with their husband before or after they marry; you don’t have to be in love at the start, just be prepared for it to happen as you become an integral part of the family.

Do you want to move in as we arranged, and take it from there? And take Bob on as your lover as well?”

“I think I will easily fall in love with him; he seems easy to be with, based on how I have seen you two with him, and he has been unfailingly kind to me at the restaurant.”

Sandy glanced at her watch.

“Bob asked the taxi to come at three-thirty, so we don’t have time for you and he to introduce yourselves to lovemaking. Come and have a look at your bedroom and see if you are happy with it. We can redecorate it if you don’t like the colour scheme.”

They moved there and Janet was favourably struck with it. It was larger than the room at her lodgings, with superior furnishings in shades that she liked, and that made her final decision simpler.

“Sandy, I am happy to become Bob’s third wife and have this as my bedroom.”

“Great. We will have a small ceremony where you agree to accept each other as husband and wife. Bob will later get you a wedding ring of sorts, much like Georgie has. Have a look at what Georgie is wearing and tell me if something the same would suit you. It goes on your wedding ring finger when you are with us, but in public you move it to another finger so as to be more circumspect, so you get it sized to be slightly loose. Do you want us to have that ceremony once we get you a ring, or have you marry Bob now and get the ring later? Once you marry Bob, the fucking starts, and the lovemaking starts as soon as you feel you are in love.”

“Ah, so many decisions, Sandy. You are really quite alright with his having several wives?”

“I was the one who decided my sister would be his second wife, and when I saw how things were going with you, I reckoned that if you were prepared to fit in, you could be number three. Why did you talk about that friend of yours as another wife of sorts? That was a shock to me, springing it on us like that.”

“Oh, I never meant it that way. It was when Bob talked of ‘all his wives’ having children, it just popped into my head that Carol might find this perfect for her. She needs security, and this arrangement offers security, doesn’t it?”

“Security, yes, but there is more to it than security. Acceptance has to remain only a possibility, no more than that, until we get to know how well you fit in, Janet. If you have a problem with us, then Carol would probably have a greater problem. I hope you have no bad habits that upset us.”

“If I have, tell me and I will change, Sandy; I am that serious about fitting in.”

“Okay. Time is close for the taxi. It is you and me, and the suitcases when we return. We can ask the driver to help move them to the taxi.”

They went off to Janet’s lodgings, where the landlady said a surprisingly sad goodbye to Janet. Janet assured her that it was a lack of money that made her move, and was not the landlady’s fault. That allowed her to leave with good grace.