Chapter 2

There was more discussion, as they waited for their lunch, and Janet tried to convince her friend that a man, such as Jill had described, could be found. There had to be more than one in the world, after all. Rhonda resisted, though, convinced that she wasn’t pretty enough to engage that kind of attention from a man.

“Besides,” she said at one point. “What’s the big deal, anyway? The few times Herb did have sex with me, it wasn’t all that interesting. I’ve gone without all these years. I’m used to it.”

“Not that interesting?!” gasped Janet. She didn’t miss either of her husbands, but she missed what they could do in bed every day. “Rhonda, honey, you’ve never been made love to at all! Think about it. If Herb was ... that way ... when you got married, he never really made love to you. He tried to go through motions that he wasn’t interested in. He didn’t care whether it was good for you or not. Randy was a son of a bitch, but he could make me sing in bed! Chuck too, for that matter!”

“Maybe,” said Rhonda, unconvinced. “But they also beat you up. That just doesn’t sound like any fun to me.”

“All men aren’t like that,” said Janet. “Just because I’m too chicken to try to find a good one doesn’t mean you should be the same way.”

“You? Chicken?” Rhonda laughed. “You’re the strongest woman I know!”

“It’s all a front,” moaned Janet. “I’d love to have a good man. I’m just such a loser at finding them that I gave up.”

“Well,” said Rhonda. “Then let’s find you a good man first. When that little chore is accomplished, maybe he’ll have a friend, or something.”

The Wagon Wheel wasn’t the only place in town where there was a rush of emotions. Across town from the diner, in Prudence Harris’ house, there was plenty of emotion to go around.

It was lunchtime, and, as had become his habit, Ted Brandywine, a teacher in the local elementary school, was eating lunch with the two women in his life. He had three-month-old Kyle on his lap, while Prudence sat topless and fed Kyle’s twin sister, Katherine, from her left breast. Katherine had gone first, and when her milk let down, Prudence just let it go. It was easier to let it drip from the free breast than it was to mess with bra flaps and clothing, so she went around topless as much as she could during the day. She had gotten so used to it that she didn’t even notice Ted staring at her dripping right breast. She had a towel in her lap that caught the drips.

Ted was eating a sandwich, which he had brought with him, but he licked his lips when he saw the dripping nipple. He loved that nipple ... both of them ... and he loved that milk too. Prudence knew it, but the kids came first. Mirriam Dalton sat in another chair, eating ravioli, and occasionally feeding some to Prudence. Prudence had to remind her to serve up a bite. Mirriam seemed preoccupied, and had all morning.

Mirriam and Prudence were best friends, a friendship that hadn’t developed until years after they went to school together. When Prudence had her twins, Mirriam, who had a set of twin girls of her own, now almost sixteen years old, had more or less become an unpaid nanny, helping Prudence, who was a widow. Mirriam usually came over after she did her morning shift at the feed mill, where she worked part time.

“Did something happen at work today?” asked Prudence, as Katherine gulped greedily and sucked lustily. Prudence was quite sure she’d never get used to the almost sexual thrill of a baby sucking at her breast.

“What?” asked Mirriam, looking at her friend. “No ... nothing.”

“Well what’s on your mind, then?” asked Prudence. “You’ve been moping around ever since you got here.”

“Nothing,” said Mirriam. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

Prudence stared at the woman. It was obvious her mind was somewhere else. The irony of her last comment made that plain.

“It can’t be man troubles,” said Ted, grinning. Ted had begun having affairs, if you could call them that, with both women six months earlier. He bedded them both on the first picnic they went on, and had been sliding his stiff prick in and out of them both as often as he could since then. This strange relationship was accepted, not only by the women themselves, but by Constance, who was Prudence’s seventeen-year-old daughter, and some of Mirriam’s children, who knew about the relationship.

“Why not?” asked Mirriam, frowning. She suddenly appeared to be paying much better attention to what was going on.

Ted blinked. The relationship, thus far, had been as seamless and happy as he could have possibly hoped for. Neither woman wanted a husband, but both women were lusty lovers, with great sexual hunger. Prudence had been six months pregnant on that first picnic, and had still let him into her slick, hot depths.

“I just thought...” Ted started, intending to say that he thought the only man in her life was making her happy. It suddenly occurred to him that he had no claim on her. There could be other men in her life. Had he stopped to think about it, he would have tossed that idea. He had fucked Mirriam Dalton at least twice a week almost since he had known her. At most, they skipped a three or four days, once in a while, when she was having her period. Prudence was the same way. “If it’s anything I’ve done, I’m sorry,” he said. “If it’s some other man, I can’t control it, but if he’s hurt you, I’ll be very angry.”

Mirriam looked haunted for a few seconds, and glanced at Prudence.

What Ted Brandywine did not know was that there was another man in Mirriam’s life. That man was in Prudence’s life too, and was, in fact, the father of the baby sitting on Ted’s lap. Of course Ted knew that the twins had a father, but that father was never mentioned, or talked about. It was Ted’s opinion that it had been a travelling salesman, or an old friend or flame, who had stopped in to see her, one day, and things had gotten out of hand. Ted didn’t have a hint of a clue that Mirriam’s son, Bobby was that man, or that, occasionally, Mirriam slept with him in her own bed.

He also didn’t know Mirriam was pregnant. Neither did Prudence.

What was eating at Mirriam was that fact. At forty years of age, she had been stupid enough to let one of them impregnate her. The problem was she didn’t know which one it was.

The likeness of Prudence’s twins to Bobby was almost startling, at least to Mirriam. She saw much of her son in the grandchildren she’d never be able to claim as grandchildren. That she was their Godmother would have to do.

But, when Ted found out she was pregnant ... and Ted would find out she was pregnant ... he would, quite naturally, assume it was his spurting prick that had gotten her that way. She knew Ted pretty well. He was a good man ... a decent man ... and even though she had already told him she wanted no husband, this was going to complicate things. Not only that, she hated lying, and she didn’t want to lie to him if ... as was easily possible ... her baby also bore a startling likeness to her twenty-two year old son.

She hadn’t the faintest idea of what to do. She’d told Bobby, in a moment of weakness, and he had bowled her over by being so elated, and actually hoping that he was the father.

Now, though, Ted himself had handed her what seemed like a tantalizingly simple solution to the problem.

“Why couldn’t there be another man?” she asked, again, emotion surging in her at a possible way out.

“Nobody said there couldn’t be another man,” said Ted, somewhat defensively. He felt a jealousy that he didn’t like, and wished wasn’t there. He loved these two women, and loving meant letting them be who they were, whether it meant it suited his own desires or not.

“Well, there is,” blurted Mirriam. She wished immediately that she hadn’t said it. More than that, she wished she hadn’t said it in such a complaining voice.

“That’s fine,” said Ted, waving his sandwich. “I have no claim on you. I love you. I’ll step aside. Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“No!” yipped Mirriam. She didn’t want him to step aside. She needed him. Her life was so much happier since he came into it. She tried to get a grip on herself, as she felt panic begin to nibble at her mind.

“What I mean is that you don’t have to step aside,” she said, helplessly, trying to salvage the situation.

“Excuse me,” said Ted. “I know what we have shared ... we three ... is a bit unusual.” He frowned. “Okay, it’s crazy. It’s unheard of. Maybe the Mormons try it once in a while, but this other man isn’t going to stand for it.”

“Yes he will!” blurted Mirriam.

Prudence, who had a pretty good idea who Mirriam was talking about, couldn’t understand why she had brought it up in the first place. Mirriam had confessed to her that she had been unable to resist Bobby. Prudence understood how that could happen. She’d been unable to resist him too. But things had been fine. Why in the world would Mirriam be so agitated about things now?

Prudence looked at Mirriam ... really looked at her. She saw it almost immediately, and couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it already. The radiance ... the glow ... the suddenly smoother skin.

“Oh, baby,” she sighed, her voice filled with emotion.

Both Mirriam and Ted stopped, and looked at her. Prudence got up. Katherine was just playing with the nipple anyway, so she pulled the baby off, and went to hand her to Ted. He started to hand Kyle to her, but she told him to hold them both.

Then she went to Mirriam, who was still staring at her topless friend, and pulled her up. Mirriam stood, uncertain as to what was going on. Prudence examined her friend. She had on jeans, which meant she couldn’t be too far along, but she was wearing a loose shirt, which hid her belly. Prudence put her hand on that shirt, and rubbed across Mirriam’s abdomen.

“How far along are you, baby?” she asked quietly.

“Almost two months,” moaned Mirriam, suddenly. Tears came into her eyes, and suddenly they were hugging tightly as Mirriam sobbed.

Prudence stroked her back, and crooned into her ear that everything would be fine.

“No it won’t,” bawled Mirriam. “I’m too old to have a babeeeeee.”

“I just had twins, darling,” Prudence reminded her.

“I know,” moaned Mirriam. “But I’ll be almost forty...” She sobbed. “one!“ she bawled.

“You’re pregnant?” Ted’s voice was an octave too high. “You’re... pregnant!“ he yelled.

Katherine, who had dozed off in his arms, after her meal, jumped, and began wailing.

The women broke apart instantly, and Mirriam’s tears dried up like drops of water in a desert.

“Now look what you’ve done!” she barked.

They went around the table, each woman going for a different baby, as Kyle started wailing too. It was possible that he was just hungry, but Ted’s excitement had transmitted to them both. At three months of age, they didn’t like excitement.

Prudence reached for Kyle, and calmed him by the simple expedient of offering him her nipple. It only took a few seconds for him to realize what was up, and accept the offer. He developed the hiccups, though, and fussed as he sucked.

Mirriam took Katherine, and cradled her, rocking her gently and cooing to her. The maternal instinct in her made her calm, and that was transmitted to the little girl too. She calmed.

“You’re pregnant?” whispered Ted, his excitement obvious.

“Yes, I’m pregnant!” snapped Mirriam. Katherine jerked in her arms, and she turned away. “I’m going to try to put her down for a nap.”

“You can’t just walk out like that!” complained Ted.

“Yes ... I can,” she said firmly, over her shoulder. “I’ll be back.”

“But I have to get back to school!” whined Ted, looking at his watch.