Chapter 24

My new telepathic and empathic abilities didn't arrive without problems. Like Josh, I had to learn how to turn off emotions and sensations coming at me from unwanted sources, and I also went through the same learning processes for telepathy that Nicole dealt with in her adolescence. Fortunately I had some loving experts who eased my entry into the wondrous but initially confusing world they'd been experiencing for so many years. They'd had no one and had learned control through trial and error, which made me realize just how clever and talented they truly were.

Empathy, I discovered, is vastly more complex than telepathy. Telepathy just sort of happens. With Nicole's help, I quickly learned to control my telepathic on/off switches but had difficulty remaining connected with someone without the person's thoughts getting in the way of what I was doing at the time. Nicole explained that I couldn't turn an imaginary volume knob, like my imaginary on/off switches, but I could push the thoughts down to a subliminal level. When I learned to sense subliminal areas in my mind, I was finally able to remain connected with someone and have their thoughts come through, but only as background noise so they didn't disturb my concentration while performing other tasks.

I also soon realized I'd never become as adept as Nicole with the search process. I think she had a photographic memory regarding what she called psi-sigs. Once connected with someone, the person's psi-sig became imprinted in her mind, and she could locate and telepathically connect with that person in seconds, wherever he or she was in the world. Her ability in this regard left me in awe. If I maintained a psi-sig mental database of less than fifty individuals, I did okay. Trying to stuff more psi-sigs in the database created glitches in my search efforts.

Still, even with all the nuances and problems, I learned how to reasonably control my new telepathic abilities within weeks. Learning Josh's empathic powers took me months, and I've yet to get a handle on what Josh calls understanding and translating attitudes. Nicole and Josh had far fewer problems adjusting to their new abilities. Josh appeared as adept as Nicole at telepathy almost immediately, and Nicole picked up empathy within days and the understanding and translating of attitudes in about a month.

They enjoyed some advantages not available to me. Their respective abilities contained quite a few commonalities. The on/off switches for telepathy and empathy were identical, and what Josh called tamping down an emotion or sensation coming at him was the same subliminal process Nicole used to turn thoughts into background noise. Although psi-sigs and emotional signatures differed greatly, Nicole didn't even try to learn about the more complex emotional signatures. She had no need to learn. She could connect with or recognize a person with a psi-sig search.

My brother had a tendency to be smug about how quickly he picked up telepathy compared to Nicole's and my learning curves with empathy.

Smug, Nicole thought.

Yeah, I replied. Shall we slap him silly or kiss him silly?

Then the little shit flashed his boyish grin, and Nicole and I piled on and kissed him silly, which gave us more ideas. Orgasm times three! Whew! If I climaxed, Nicole climaxed, and Josh right along with us. Every time!

And the first time Andy and Liz joined the three of us, Nicole, Josh and I passed out when Liz's climax struck. Orgasm times four - five, if Andy managed to come with us - was almost too much to handle at first. Nicole and I suddenly and simultaneously drifting off to never-never land disturbed Andy and Liz, but we didn't try to explain, merely stonewalled their queries with shrugs and non-answers. Because the unusual becomes commonplace if experienced enough, Nicole and I soon learned to handle female orgasms times three without passing out. Josh had already discovered that he could tamp down Liz's climax to what he called half-force and join us without losing consciousness. He also ignored the sensations of his own orgasms, as well as Andy's, which Nicole and I were loath to do, especially our beloved's climaxes.

"You might think your orgasms are insignificant compared to ours," Nicole told him, "but I don't. I cherish them."

"Here, here," I agreed.

With no or little privacy, another issue surfaced. Nicole and I were surprised to discover we all masturbated occasionally.

Old habits die hard, I admitted telepathically when I realized Nicole was connected with me during one of my self-induced climaxes. She eliminated any embarrassment on my part when she laughed and admitted that she still masturbated from time to time.

I know, Josh said telepathically to both of us.

Josh, did you come with me? I asked silently.

No, not this time. I wasn't in a situation where I could move through one of your marvelous orgasms. I don't consider coming in my pants an option anymore.

What about you, Nicole? Did you climax with me a minute ago?

I sure did. It was a surprise, a pleasant one at that, but in the future I'll probably do what Josh does, enjoy your climaxes or... Josh, do you still masturbate?

Not often, but yes. As Sandy said, old habits die hard.

How about that? A trio of inveterate jerk-offs, that's what we are, Nicole said, and I heard a mental chuckle.

Where are you? I asked Josh.

I'm just about home. There, I see the townhouse...

I heard the garage door start to open.

Don't get dressed, Josh ordered.

I laughed. He's hot, Nicole.

I know. Damn, I wish I could join the two of you. I'm sitting in a boring macroeconomics class.

When will it end? I asked.

Ten minutes.

Visit a ladies room after class and join us empathically.

Yeah, share your orgasm with us, Nicole, Josh said.

Deal! Don't come until I give you the word.

Our TRES was important to me before Josh fiddled with my mind and gave me his gifts and Nicole's. Afterwards, the connection between the three of us exceeded love. I didn't try to label the emotion that exceeded love. I knew only that the emotion existed. Like love, it was impossible to describe. It just was. Nicole and Josh agreed with my assessment. The three of us were as close to becoming one as possible without the loss of our individual egos.

In December, we traveled to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and while standing alone at Cape Royal, a scenic viewpoint that overlooked nature's awesome splendor, we married each other in a private ceremony that brought tears to all of our eyes. We timed our vows with the setting of the sun, and roughed it that night in a frontier cabin. The next week, we relaxed and made love in luxury on a Caribbean cruise ship.

In May the following year, Nicole graduated from ASU and continued her education online at Phoenix College. I helped Jessie and Nicole plan her public wedding, and soon discovered my mother also wanted to be involved. It wasn't the Mormon Temple wedding for Josh that Mom had always dreamed about, but I think she had more fun with the civil wedding than the weddings overwhelmed with religious overtones she'd witnessed with her other children. Josh and Nicole were married in Bellagio's Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Las Vegas on the 6th of June, and the three of us enjoyed a second honeymoon touring Europe for a couple of weeks. I functioned as tour guide.

Josh didn't graduate in June, as he'd planned. He became deeply involved with the redevelopment of the office complex in Las Vegas, and he also completed a couple of deals using his own real estate paradigm, each deal larger than the one before, so he didn't finish his undergraduate work until August. Nicole helped him with both transactions. The first one involved the buyer she'd uncovered while working with Olsen, and she did much of what Josh called the grunt work on the other. Her slice of the profits from the two deals made her a millionaire. Gratefully, she stopped worrying about money.

With Josh and Nicole busy with their educations and our business, I took the lead on the development of our compound and discovered I not only had a knack for real estate development but also truly enjoyed the work.

We didn't move out of Josh's townhouse into a larger place. I had my small apartment and museum if I wanted some space, and the closeness we felt for each other didn't require much alone time.

Oh, I almost forgot. Andy and Liz hit up Josh for his genes. He turned them down, and they accepted his negative response with grace. They perked up when we suggested that they consult a geneticist to determine the risks if they had a baby of their own, and a few weeks later, their moods plummeted when they were told the risks were too high. They decided to go the sperm bank route, and a month ago, Liz announced she was pregnant.

Liz and I had worked together to decorate my new home in the compound, and I was more than pleased with the results. Liz also worked with Josh and Nicole decorating their home, and helped all of us regarding the common areas like the main kitchen and dining room, the bathhouse for the communal swimming pool, the exercise facility, an entertainment center, the investment company offices, and what we called our party room. After we finally move into the compound next month, no one would ever need to fear lying half-on, half-off a bed again when a group got together for some fun and games. Besides the oversized, ultra-luxurious bed, the room included a waterfall, lush planting, a hot tub, a well-stocked bar and kitchenette, sybaritic bathroom facilities, as well as conversation areas - Josh called them make-out areas. One was intimate for two or three, another larger for group conversations. Josh also declared that his house rule for the hot tub in his townhouse would be the house rule for our party room, in other words, get nekkid or get out. No one argued against his declaration.

Josh, I noticed, was careful about including Nicole in the decorating aspects of their new home, and a shallow probe told me why. Nicole's concerns were unfounded. Her innate understanding of color, texture, and other design elements far exceeded mine, although I could empathize, no pun intended, with Nicole about Josh's abilities along those lines. In my humble opinion, he matched Liz's skill when it came to interior design. His selections were unerringly accurate.

Another summer was ending. My book was scheduled to hit the stands in a month, and a book tour would occupy my spare time then, but that was then. I was feeling restless, so when Liz suggested a trip to New York to select the art for my home, I jumped at the chance. Josh and Nicole talked it over and passed on the trip because they wanted to select each piece of art for their home over time. Besides, the Las Vegas office complex was at a critical stage and needed their attention.

My trip to New York marked my first separation from my husband and wife since my return to Phoenix about a year ago. We'd be separated physically but not mentally, so even 3,000 miles away I wouldn't be alone. We could talk telepathically, and we'd continue to share our emotions and sensations. I packed my bags, and Josh and Nicole took me to the airport. Even with all the closeness and contact we'd have during the trip with our paranormal abilities, our goodbyes were heartfelt and tear-ladened.

From 1839 until my death in 1879, I lived as a male in Denmark. The person of note associated with me for that life was my great grandfather, Bertel Thorvaldsen. He was a famous sculptor who worked in carrera marble and spent much of his working life in Rome as well as the marble quarries around Tuscany. The Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen displays many of his sculptures and paintings. I remember him, but barely and only as an old man. He died in 1844, five years after my birth. I cherish the Thorvaldsen sculpture in my museum.

Besides Andy and Liz, my genealogists traced a number of descendents from my past lives, and they listed a young man named Soren Thorsen as a direct descendent from my life in the 19th century, five generations removed, and as luck would have it, a gallery in New York was opening a Soren Thorsen one-man show. I noticed Thorsen's medium of choice was carrera marble, although to be accurate, the media was mixed: white marble and black slate. Was he following in my great grandfather's footsteps?

"I know nothing about this sculptor," Liz stated. From her thoughts, I deduced she certainly knew the gallery owner. He was stingy with the commissions he paid interior designers.

"Let's drop by the opening, anyway. I'm intrigued by the title of the show, Black and White Emotions. One of Thorsen's pieces might work for the Las Vegas office complex."

After Liz signed on to handle the interior design of the Vegas project, she moved Andy away from copper, and the lobbies and other public areas of the complex were turning into a dazzling display of black and white in a green jungle. Green because Nicole understood the value of live plants in any environment. I let her be the lead on the landscaping portion of our compound, and the results were magnificent.

Fax me the gallery's brochure on the show tomorrow, Nicole said in my mind.

Good idea, I replied.

Don't let Liz bully you, Josh added.

I felt Nicole's mental chuckle. That'll be the day, she said.

Josh and Nicole were en route to Vegas, but they weren't flying. They were riding in Josh's new vehicle - his first. I'd expected him to select a sports car, like Nicole. Uh-uh, my sexy brother bought a white Hummer H2.

"It's the perfect vehicle for a man of the world," he said. "It's so ugly it's casually chic, like the clothes you and Nicole picked out for me at BG Men."

I'm not sure why, but his explanation and the Hummer made sense, perhaps because a Hummer fit the rugged individualist my brother had become. The boxy machine emphasized his hard, unyielding side, making his compassionate, loving nature shine that much brighter.

Where are you? Josh asked.