Chapter 10

The next two weeks were incredibly busy. Lisa, Amanda and I arrived back in London with Nick early the next morning, tired from the travel and worn out from the trip.

We took the rest of that day off to unpack, unwind and catch up on sleep.

The next day Amanda went to her father's offices and Lisa and I went to work. Because I was not going to be able to manage day-to-day operations with the new role Ian had set for me, I spent time with Nick and a couple of our senior staff to set up a new management team that did not require my input (for the most part.)

Lisa was acting as my assistant and scheduled me both in the office and out to clients. Our clients took the news generally positively, but it was important for me to wave the flag and make sure they knew that their relationship was with the whole company — but they could call me any time and I'd work with them.

The Monday following our return, Amanda's dad called me and invited me to lunch.

Gulp.

Without Amanda.

I cleared my schedule through Lisa, checked my jacket for lint, and went to his office.

I reviewed events since I'd last visited Mr. Evans and decided that I should still be in his good graces.

His receptionist showed me in to his office.

"Hello Mark," he said. What did he mean by that?

"Mr. Evans."

He chuckled. "Call me Jack, Mark. It seems we're destined to know each other for some time to come." Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

"Thank you Jack. I appreciate that," I said.

Jack gathered his jacket up and led the way out of his offices. We walked a couple of blocks to a Pub I'd never been to. "Afternoon, Jack!" the barkeeper called as we stepped in. Apparently Jack had been there before.

Jack waved and we found a table.

Lunch was brought to us and it was delicious. The beer was good, too. "Iechyd da," Jack said as a toast. We drank a pint of Buckley's Reverend Jamesæhave, brewed in Cardiff. (There's a political difference of opinion about the relative merits of Buckley and Brain beers — exacerbated by Brain's buyout of Buckley a couple of years ago... Jack Evans is a Buckley's man.)

Eventually, Jack got around to explaining why he wanted to see me.

"Mark, Amanda tells me you had a good trip to Bermuda?" Did she tell you any details?

"Yes sir," I said. "We had a lot of fun. Good food, good company."

"So I hear," Jack said. "So I hear... and Amanda? Amanda in particular? How did things go with Amanda?"

Uh. Was he fishing for details of our making love? Maybe stories of Amanda and Lisa? I think Amanda spent some "quality time" with Mary, too. I swallowed. "I think Amanda had a good time..."

He laughed. Obviously he understood my hesitation. "No details! I remember changing her nappies. It was almost yesterday. Definitely no details."

I smiled too. Thank God...

"What I mean, Mark," he said somewhat more seriously, "is have you and Lisa and Mary decided about Amanda?"

"Sir?" This was coming at me from nowhere.

"Amanda has been sitting at her desk since you guys got back, staring out the window. Sometimes she's smiling, sometimes she looks like she's about to cry... Why is that Mark?"

"Uh..."

"Now this is your personal business," Jack said, "but do you think Amanda thought you guys might 'marry' her in Bermuda?"

Shit. I made a big production out of taking a drink of my beer. "I think," I said, "in the rush and bustle it just never occurred to us..." Lame.

"Mark," Jack said putting a hand on my shoulder, "I've only got one daughter. Her happiness is more important to me than my life. Please help me solve this problem."

No, I've never had a daughter, why do you ask?

I laughed. "Jack. It was not intentional. I'll talk to Amanda tonight."

Jack settled back. "I'd appreciate it, son."

The rest of our meal was much more light-hearted.

Once back to the office I called Mary and asked her opinion then I asked Lisa. I also made a call to Cardiff.

As it turned out, I did not talk to Amanda that night. Rather we went for a light dinner and turned in early. By eight thirty the next morning we were on road for Cardiff.

"Why are we going to Cardiff?" Amanda asked as she merged into traffic.

"Because I want to gawk at your beautiful mother over lunch," I said.

Amanda just shook her head. "Does this have anything to do with your meeting Daddy yesterday?"

Lisa, who was in the back seat, leaned forward. "Have you heard to joke about the Cardiff zoo?"

"No..." I said.

"Yes... and it's not funny!" said Amanda.

"Tell me?" I asked.

Amanda shook her head.

"Please?"

"Whatever..." Amanda said.

"Seems that the Cardiff zoo acquired a female of a very rare species of gorilla. Within a few weeks, the gorilla became very cantankerous and difficult to handle... kind of like Barb." Lisa said, we chuckled.

"Upon examination, the Zoo's vet determined the problem. The gorilla was in heat. To make matters worse, there were no male gorillas available.

"After thinking about the problem for a while, the Zoo management noticed Gareth, a big Welsh lad, who was responsible for Zoo maintenance. Gareth, like most Welsh boys, had little sense, but supposedly had what it takes to satisfy a female of ANY species. So, the Zoo administrators thought they might have a solution. They talked to Gareth and made a proposition. Would he be willing to shag with the gorilla for 500 pounds?" I chuckled at Lisa's Anglicism.

Lisa continued, "Gareth showed some interest, but said he would have to think the matter over carefully. So the next day, Gareth told them that he would accept their offer, but only under three conditions:

"'First, ' he said, 'I don't want to have to kiss her.

"'Second, you must never tell anyone about this.'

"The Zoo administrators quickly agreed to these conditions, so they asked his third condition. 'Well, ' said Gareth... 'You gotta give me another week to come up with the 500 pounds.'"

I laughed in spite of myself. "God, that's horrible!" I told Lisa.

Amanda shook her head again. "Probably an Irishman made the joke," she said under her breath.

"Why didn't you tell us Cardiff had a zoo Amanda?" Lisa asked.

"It doesn't."

Oh.

Pretty soon we were in Wales and then into Cardiff. "Where to, mysterious one?" Amanda asked.

"Let's go see mom," I said.

"Why are we here?" Amanda asked.

"To see you mom?" Lisa answered for me.

"For lunch," I added helpfully. "I promised we'd come back and visit. Remember?"

Amanda navigated to her home quickly and the beautiful Melissa met us at the door. She hugged Amanda and then Lisa. She took my hand and squeezed it.

Amanda and Melissa talked about Bermuda for half an hour or more. They talked about the pink sand and about the friendly people. Lisa joined in and they talked about the clothes, the food, and the hotel. I joined in and asked after lunch.

Apparently I don't get it. Again. At least they laughed at me.

After a bit more talk, we were ushered into the 'small dining room' — which was not small. Places for four were set and, incongruously, a modern-looking speakerphone sat on the table. "I'm expecting a call," Melissa explained.

Amanda looked from her mother to Lisa to me like we had all slipped around the bend.

Lunch was a tasty soup with a big salad. Melissa and I enjoyed easy conversation with Lisa joining in from time to time.

"Have you heard the joke about the Cardiff Zoo?" Lisa asked Melissa at one point. Amanda put her head in her hands. I couldn't tell if she was crying or laughing...

Lunch was a success.

When the phone rang, we had pretty much finished eating. I excused myself while Melissa answered.

I came back into the room just as Melissa said, "... okay dear, I'll put you on speaker now." She pushed some series of buttons then continued, "Okay. I think that has it, you can go ahead."

Surprising Amanda, I spoke up. "Amanda, I am speaking for Mary in Boston — on the phone, Lisa here, and myself," I said.

"Hi Amanda. Hi Lisa. Hi Mark," Mary said from the speakerphone.

Amanda's eyes got big.

"Hi Mary," Lisa said.

"Amanda, since we met you, Mary, Lisa, and I have fallen in love with you," I told Amanda. "As you know, we are joined together emotionally and legally in an arrangement we call a marriage."

Amanda's eyes were leaking, so were Melissa's and Lisa's. Mary's too, I'll bet.

I swallowed and looked at my sweet Welsh wench. "Amanda Evans, will you join us in our marriage?"

The pause stretched and stretched... maybe three or even four seconds before Amanda turned to Lisa, grabbed her with a hug that appeared barely survivable. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" she cried into Lisa's shoulder. "Yes!"

"I love you," I head Mary say on the speakerphone.

Melissa came around the table and joined Lisa and Amanda's hug. I picked up the handset of the phone. "Hey," I said.

"Hey Mark," Mary answered.

"I think it's a 'yes'..."

"Can you hand the phone to Amanda?" Mary asked.

I squeezed it in between Lisa and Amanda and they both listened and talked to Mary.

Melissa came over to me and hugged me. "That was so sweet," she said.

"So is this hug," I answered with a chuckle, waggling my eyebrows.

"I'm going to have to watch you!" Melissa said, giving me an extra squeeze. "You take care of my daughter young man!"

"Yes ma'am," I said. Yes Melissa, I will do everything I can for your daughter. I pledge my life...

The girls talked on the phone for ten or fifteen minutes and then Melissa, Amanda, and Lisa huddled in the sitting room for another hour or so... I read the paper.

So much for "equal rights..."

The trip back to London passed quickly with Amanda and Mary joking and laughing. Amanda was almost giddy. When we got to our flat, Amanda pulled my hand to hold me back. She gave me a hot kiss, and whispered, "You are so going to get lucky tonight..."

I winked, "'You gotta give me another week to come up with the 500 pounds.'"

Amanda's small, but she can land a blow.

Our delay had given Lisa time to prepare three naked Martinis. Amanda insisted that we dress appropriately and as soon as Amanda and I stripped down Lisa and I toasted our fiancé.

Lisa stirred her martini with my stiffening cock... and Amanda licked the liquor off. Then Lisa licked the licker while I kissed her. And kissed her.

Amanda was shaking, unsteady on her feet, from the attention so I carried her to the sofa and lay her down.

Lisa nuzzled up to Amanda's sweet pussy while I let my hands and lips roam the rest of her. I kissed, licked, or nipped every part of her I could reach while Lisa kept steady attention on Amanda's clit — and two, sometimes three, fingers probed her depths.

I'm not sure if Amanda had three or ten orgasms. (How do you tell between one really long one with multiple peaks and three or four that are close together?) In any event, Amanda's body gave out before the attention did. She passed out.

I carried her to bed, tucked her in, and rejoined Lisa.

Yes, she did give me a mind shattering blowjob... and it wasn't even zoo day... though I think I might have said the word a time or two.

I returned the favor.

Dinner was prepared via the microwave, so we won't talk about it. I insulted a nice beer by drinking it with dinner.

We crawled into bed with Amanda early.

The rest of the week was a whirlwind.

Lisa took Amanda to the U.S. Embassy to arrange a multiple entry, extended stay visa — which turned out to be more than a little difficult (but a call to Jack who called somebody who knew somebody straightened it out.)

I was in a rush to get Nick up to speed and we needed to get to Boston so I could get with Ian and relieve him of my job so he could start doing his new job.

I rearranged with Ian to meet with him the following Tuesday and had Nick arrange for us to fly to Boston on Sunday.

Amanda trained a girl from a temp-agency to take her place and checked out with Dad and visited her Mom one more time.

We all packed personal things — but, since we weren't giving up the flat, just yet, we didn't have to take everything... which really helped me and Lisa since we had a condo full of stuff waiting in Boston (or wherever Lisa's stuff had ended up when Mary had it shipped from San Francisco.) Amanda had a bit more to take.