Chapter 13

The onset of spring had not brought new hope to Ellie. She had given it everything she had, but it wasn't enough, and she just knew that Bert would not be coming back from this trip. Who left on business trips on Friday evening, anyway? It was the fifth time he had done that.

She and Emma had talked endlessly about her marriage problems, of course, and she had been getting counseling. He wouldn't go. The counsellor had been brutally frank with her.

"I believe Bert feels like he is in a losing battle for your love with two other people," the counsellor had said. "First of all is your twin."

"But Jack doesn't seem to have that problem," she complained. "He seems fine with me and Emma."

"Jack is the other person that Bert does not feel like competing with any more."

"But I have never done anything with Jack!" Ellie protested. "Well, that once, and that was part of their assessment day, and we never had sex, and ... and..."

" ... and your fantasies are always about Jack and not about your husband, right?"

"Oh, God! What can I do. Honestly, I have tried to be the most loving, affectionate, sexiest wife I can be for him. I don't know what else I could do," Ellie wailed. After sniffling a little, she asked "Do you think it was moving here that got him, you know, wandering?"

"Only indirectly."

"Huh?"

"When you moved here, it was a good thing for your marriage," the counsellor told her. "The real trouble began when Emma moved close again."

"But I know he had some flings before they moved here."

"If you could get the information, I am almost certain what you would find: he has not been faithful for more than a few months at a time since you met him."

"How can you say that?"

"Remember, we have the data from his responses," the counsellor reminded her. "This is one of the situations where our policy allows us to divulge certain things from our data."

"I don't talk about Jack; I don't flirt with him when I'm around him; I have been completely faithful."

"Except in your heart. You cannot help that, and he can sense it."

"Are you telling me it is hopeless? Am I headed for divorce?"

"Ellie, I am also allowed to tell you that the probability of your husband staying married to any woman for more than ten years is very small."

"Seventeen. We've been married seventeen years."

"Then you are to be congratulated. You have held the un-holdable for much longer than could be expected."

"So it's nice try, you did the best you could, it was hopeless, have a nice life? Is that it?" Tears were running freely down her cheeks, now. "But I truly loved him, no matter what I felt for Jack. Couldn't he see that?"

"That's why it has lasted seventeen years, Ellie. Tell me, how did your parents feel about your marriage to Bert?"

"They said he had good prospects. That's about all they would say. They would never say anything negative about him, even if they felt it."

"Okay, look at it another way. Compare how they were with Bert versus how they were with Jack."

"Oh, they tried to be fair and not play favorites, but I'm sure Mom would gladly go to bed with Jack. Dad probably wouldn't even mind."

"But not Bert?"

"No way."

"One thing we usually learn too late is that our parents usually get to be experts on us. Even when we're adults, they can see some things about us better than we can. I assume that Emma met Jack before you met Bert, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"Intuition. And good notes," he added with a laugh. "The point is, you felt you had lost out on the best, so you went for the excitement, the flash, the slightly bad boy type."

"He's always been good in bed," was all she could say in response.

"Ellie, we on the staff always do what we can to salvage and restore marriages, but we have to be realistic. It looks like yours is doomed. The best help we can give you is in looking toward what's next.

"Given that Bert will be gone, what would be your dream for the future. Now, don't say something brave and proper. Tell me honestly what you dream about."

"I ... I haven't let myself think that way," she said.

"Ellie, Ellie. Right now, you're a patient. You have your clothes on. I can turn you into a subject if I think you are not being honest and open with me. Then you will have to strip, and I will have to put sensors in embarrassing places. Now, once again, describe the future you dream about."

She sat breathing heavily for a minute or more, looking up at him periodically, then dropping her gaze. Finally, she let out a huge sigh and said "I dream that the kids and I move in with Emma and Jack. Sis and I share Jack as a husband. We sleep in one big bed and he keeps both of us very happy. There, I've said it. Now you can treat me for being a pervert."

"There is nothing perverted about that, Ellie. Remember, unless telepathy really exists, you and Emma are probably as close to being one person in two bodies as is possible. I'm assuming that Emma might even consider such an arrangement."

"She's said she would," Ellie said timidly.

"So you've talked about it?" he asked.

With a wistful look, she told him "When we were teens, we used to lie on our backs on the grass for the longest time, just holding hands and looking up at the stars. We used to talk about everything, but it was different. One of us would start a thought, the other would finish it, and we would agree on it.

"When Emma started getting serious about Jack, it was pretty traumatic for us. It would be the first thing we wouldn't share, and it was the most important thing of all. Deep down, we both want to share even at that level."

"You mean you didn't pull a switch on Jack, with you pretending you were Emma?"

"When we were quite young, we decided that it would be better if there was always some visible difference between us. We chose hair."

"Why did you decide that? It seems like many identicals enjoy the confusion they can create."

"It frustrated our mom when she couldn't tell us apart. We loved her lots and we didn't want to make any trouble for her. We don't need to look so much alike to everyone else. We know how similar we are."

"All right. Next time, I need to talk to you and your sister together."

"Emma, from all of the evidence, you have just a wonderful marriage. Why would you take any chance at disrupting what you have?" the counsellor asked when both twins came to the next appointment.

"Nothing can be right if Ellie is hurting," Emma said firmly. "If my marriage is perfect but she is miserable, I can't be happy." Ellie hugged Emma and laid her head on Emma's shoulder after that comment.

"But she will be well provided for, I'm sure," he insisted.

"She's meant to be with a man. Nothing is right, otherwise," Emma responded.

"You lived farther apart for a few years after Ellie moved to the Heights. Other than some travel time, that didn't seem to bother you," he pointed out.

"Those were her good years. She and Bert were good together. He was keeping it in his pants," Emma explained. "I didn't have to worry about her."

"We know now that he was not 'keeping it in his pants'," the counsellor corrected.

"Well, Ellie didn't know that, and she was happy."

"I need to ask this carefully, Emma. I don't want to offend you, but this is a very serious issue. Where do your sister and your husband rank in terms of importance in your life?"

Emma sighed heavily and looked down at the floor for a while. "I can't help what I am," she finally said. "I love Jack as much as I can love a man. I guess Ellie and I are just freaks. We have this connection that just ... just ... it dominates everything we do. I can't answer your question because it's like apples and oranges. Jack has my love, my emotions. But Ellie is a part of me. That's the best I can say."

"Are you telling me there won't be any jealousy when he is making love to your sister?"

"I can't say that I have ever really been jealous of Ellie," Emma said, dodging the question.

"Do you feel the same way, Ellie?"

"I have always been jealous that she has Jack," was Ellie's frank reply.

"I knew that," Emma said. "She told me many, many times.

There were more probing questions for the rest of the hour, then he said "I need to talk to Jack alone."

"Did you know that Ellie and Bert were headed for divorce?" the counsellor asked Jack.

"Yes. Emma's been pretty down about it," Jack answered.

"How do you assess the situation, Jack?"

"The big problem is that Ellie probably won't be able to afford to stay in her house on the settlement amount. Maybe they can find a condo here, but Emma will be upset at what Ellie will have to give up. The worst case is if Ellie has to move out of the Heights."

"Would Emma want to follow her?"

"That's where it gets bad for me. Of course, Emma wants to be close - they both want that. Emma is so thrilled with living here, though, for the kids and everything. She would be a worse mess than before we moved here."

"I imagine you know Emma's proposed solution," the counsellor said, not as a question.

"You've talked to her - talked to both of them," Jack said. "Do you think she is serious? Is Ellie serious?"

"Let me answer the easiest one first," the counsellor said. "To use the vernacular, Ellie would 'jump your bones' in the middle of a downtown intersection if you and Emma gave her the go-ahead."

"I guess I knew that."

"Here's the best I can deduce from the data we have and from talking to the twins, Jack. They both view themselves plus you as an 'eternal triangle', for lack of a better definition. That triangle would finally be complete."

"Poor Bert," Jack mused. "It must be tough living with that over your head."

"I'm sure that did nothing to improve his fidelity. However, there was very little fidelity there to start with. That is another subject which I should not be discussing with you. To answer your question: both women are deadly serious about this. I would say they are looking forward to it."

"To Ellie getting divorced?" Jack asked incredulously.

"To them, that is just an unfortunate necessity for them to finally be together permanently. Jack, the critical question is where are you in all of this?"

"The strange thing is that I've known this was a possibility ever since my first date with Emma," Jack admitted.

"A possibility as in a fantasy or as in a threat?"

"Yes."

"I have to commend you on your openness and honestly, Jack. That must have been hard to admit."

"Well, this place has that effect on you," Jack said with a chuckle. "Before long, you find you're spilling your guts even when your dick isn't hanging out."

"It did not seem to affect your erstwhile brother-in-law that way. Oops! I should not have said that. I'm afraid because of your status as an escort, I think of you more as a colleague than a patient. Back to the subject: can you satisfy both women sexually?"

"I'm not sure I can even give Emma all she wants," Jack answered with a chuckle. "In the folklore, the women are supposed to help by doing each other. I don't think they ever have. What do you think, Doc?"

"I think that whatever you can give them will be enough. The sharing and being constantly together will compensate. Perhaps they will begin, uh, pleasuring each other. Getting into more detail: would Ellie's room be the master suite, or would she have a separate room?"

"Oh. Look, I've loved Emma since she first laid that impudent, all-knowing smile of hers on me. She has to be number one. That's just the way I'm made."

"You realize, don't you, that they consider themselves one person?"

"They've talked about that. I can't say I understand it, but I think I know how they feel about it."

"Then back to my question about Ellie's bedroom - her bed."

"You're talking like this is a done deal," Jack complained. The counsellor just looked at him without saying anything. Jack's shoulders slumped and he just said "Shit!"

"Hey, Jack, if you're looking for sympathy, you won't get any here. You're going to live with two beautiful twins and three young clones of them. How am I supposed to see that as a tragedy for you?"

"I really don't have much say in any of this, do I?" Jack admitted.

"Realistically, no, Jack. If you refuse to 'marry' Ellie, it will damage your relationship with Emma. You already had a brush with that before you moved here."

"Don't want to go there again," Jack said firmly.

"How do you honestly feel about Ellie?"

"That's a question I've never allowed myself to think about. It was too much like cheating."

"That gives me the answer. When will you welcome her into your bed and consummate?"

"Not until they're divorced."

"Not a good idea, Jack. I know your sense of honor needs to define a point when it is no longer cheating on Bert. At the same time, the waiting time for the divorce to be final will be the time when Ellie is most in need of support and reassurance. Can you define the honorable point as when they have both signed the divorce petition?"

"The women may have something to say about that, but I could live with it."

"I'm sure they will. If they had their say, you would have made love to Ellie long ago," the counsellor said.

"And both of my daughters. Probably my niece, too," Jack added.

"Will you be OK in your house with all of you?"

With a little laugh, Jack responded "Do you think I will have anything to say about that? I wouldn't be surprised if they had remodeling plans all drawn up."

"This is the realization of a dream for them, Jack. You have to keep that in mind. There is not a lot of advice I can give you about this unprecedented situation, but there is one thing you need to consider. Don't let your attitude piss on their dream."

"Huh?"

"My sense is that Ellie is so excited about living with her twin, and with you, that it almost erases the pain of Bert's infidelity and her failing marriage. What will happen if you make this all seem like a tough break that you're just going to have to deal with?"

"I see. Once again, I'll have to 'fake it 'til I make it', huh?"

"Jack, if you have to fake welcoming a woman like Ellie into your life, I want to set you up for a long, intensive course of therapy."

"Glad you're having fun with this."

"I told you, I view you almost like a colleague, Jack. Seriously, though, it is important for your future to be as positive as you possibly can about this move."

"So, I need to hide my doubts and concerns and put on a happy face. Doesn't seem fair."

"There's a lot that's not fair when it comes to love and sex. Women have all of these awesome emotions. We have them, too, but we were given some switches and dials that they don't have. We're supposed to be more in control of our emotions. Time to use those switches and dials, Jack.

"Let me make a suggestion," the counsellor said. "All of those things you never let yourself think about - let them loose. Welcome all of those suppressed fantasies about Ellie. Treat her as a new love interest. I think you will be pleasantly surprised how it affects your attitude."

"It will feel like cheating, though."

"But Emma does not see it that way. Remember, Ellie is Emma and Emma is Ellie. I can't understand it, either, but empirically, I have to accept it. You need to accept it, too, Jack."

"So, the divorce is a sure thing, huh? Soon?"

"Ellie does not expect him back from the current trip."

"Idiot!"

"That's the spirit, Jack! Express that to Ellie. Let her know that you think he is a fool to leave her. Let her know that you think she is a treasure. That's the way to start your new relationship. She already loves you. Just stoke it a little more."

"Any chance you can come home early?" Emma asked abruptly when Jack answered the phone at work that morning. "It's important."

He knew what is was without asking. Ellie must have been served the divorce papers. He arranged to take off at lunchtime for the day and headed home. It had been two weeks since his talk with the counsellor, and he had been doing a lot of thinking. Of course, Ellie had been around the house a lot during that time, but their relationship did not seem to have changed. He had noticed that she seemed less flirtatious, but he chalked it up to distress over her crumbling marriage.

He knew he should never try to anticipate his wife's moves, and he would never have been able to predict what would happen when he arrived home. He was barely in the door from the garage when she started undressing him. He never had a chance to say a thing, she was so wound up.

"That stupid idiot did it! He filed for divorce. She's better off rid of him, but right now, she's a mess."

"Honey, why... ?" he tried to ask as she knelt to remove his shoes and socks.

"She's in on our bed - a basket case. You go right in there and propose to her, then you fuck her until she can't take any more."

By then, he was naked and he just stared at her in disbelief. He had thought there would at least be some discussion, some planning, but he could see it in her eyes. She was feeling every hurt, every emotion that her twin was suffering through. It was time for emergency aid, not rational planning.

"Jack, Darling, it was always supposed to be this way: Ellie and me together with a wonderful loving man. Tell her you want that, that you need it. Please, Honey!"

Jack needed a shower. His nerves had made him sweat, but he also needed a little more time to collect himself. When he told Emma he would use the downstairs bathroom, she stripped faster than he had ever seen and hurried down with him. There went his thinking time. As she washed him, she stroked him to hardness, but stopped there. "I want you hard when you go in to her. I want you ready to give her a real nice load."

As Emma walked him to the master suite where Ellie was, she kept herself hugged tightly to him and kept fondling and stroking to make sure he stayed hard. Just her actions and her attitudes dispelled his last lingering doubts and he decided to lay it on for all he was worth.

Ellie was curled up on her side with the covers up to her waist. She had on a sweatshirt and he could see her slacks on the chair so he knew she was partially undressed. She was sniffling lightly so he knew she was not asleep.

He approached quietly from the way she was facing. He wanted her to see his painfully hard cock. When he pulled back the covers to expose her panty-clad lower body, she looked up at him, first with alarm, then with amazement, and finally with lust as she saw that he was naked and aroused.

Moving to her on his knees, he grabbed the waistband of her panties and gave a strong jerk. That was a gamble, but they did not look particularly sturdy, and he was right, as they tore away.

"Jack, what are you doing?" she gasped.

"It's time, Ellie."

"T ... time?"

"Time for me to claim what is rightfully mine." With that, he began squeezing her labia and wiggling a finger between them, hoping that she would lubricate quickly.

"Y ... yours?"

"This is the way it was meant to be, Ellie. You, Emma, and me - we are supposed to be together. Bert is a fool to leave you, but he had his chance and now you are mine!"

"Oh, Jack! Do you mean that?"

"I was never more serious." He knew he was laying it on pretty thick, but he just sensed that this was the right approach. Claiming her this way showed that he thought she was valuable. He would not just be taking her in out of charity. "From now on and forever, this pussy is mine," he declared. "This ass is mine," he said as he ran a hand over one cheek. "Theses tits are mine," he told her as he mouthed one through her sweatshirt. "And these lips are mine." He punctuated that with a searing kiss.

She seemed almost comatose for a moment, but soon, she was returning the kiss in kind and reaching for his cock. "Ready! Ready!" she squealed as she grasped it and pulled it toward her opening. "So long! Waited so long! So long!" she babbled.

As she guided him past her opening, she lunged at him to get him to penetrate her. When he responded with a strong thrust, she let out an ear-splitting scream and crashed into an orgasm.

Somehow, despite his level of arousal and despite the incredible flexing and contractions of her vagina, he held off. If this was to be a claiming fuck, he needed to pound her for a while. He had to hold still for just a bit at the peak of her climax, but well before she was finished, he began long, steady thrusts, keeping her at or near the orgasmic point for a long time.

He had to stop twice more to regain some control. The first time, he forcefully pulled the sweatshirt off of her and unhooked the front clasp of her bra. The second time, he pulled off her rings and dramatically flung them across the room. "I will get you new ones just like Emma's" he told her, causing her to break into sobs.

"I want you to go right to a lawyer and get things signed as quickly as you can. From now on, this house is your house. This bed is your bed. I will talk to my new children and tell them what is happening and why.

"We will find someone who will marry us, and damn the legality. From now on, Emma and I will no longer be a couple. You, Emma, and I will be a trio. Both of you will go everywhere with me as my wives, and I will be the envy of every man I meet."

"Oh, God, Jack! I can't believe it! Do you really mean it?"

"Every word, Ellie. Every word."

Right then, Emma got on the bed and pressed herself against Ellie. Jack picked up his pace and with help from Emma's hand squeezing his balls from behind, he bellowed and pumped a big load into his new mate.

A little later, after a very happy Ellie had left to make arrangements, Jack and Emma sat in the kitchen over coffee. "You never did anything that forceful with me, Jack," she said quietly.

"Sweetheart, you were never discarded, rejected like she has been. You never needed that like she did today. She had to know that I wanted her and was not just taking her in like some stray."

"And do you want her? Really?"

"Emma, as you have said many times, Ellie is you and you are Ellie. Since I met you, I have not allowed myself to think about Ellie romantically or sexually. I always felt it would be unfaithful to you if I did. Since I talked to the counsellor, I have let my feelings loose. Knowing how I love you, how I want you, how could I not want her? Does that trouble you?"

In answer, she got up from her chair and sat on his lap. "Think you can get it up again before the kids get out of school?"

"I may have to be the youngest living Viagra customer, living with both of you," he quipped. "I hope I didn't go beyond what you intended, Honey. When you said 'propose', I took it to mean just what I said to her. Was I wrong?"

"No. No, you weren't wrong. I guess it's just hitting me that in getting what I've always dreamed about, I'll be giving up something, too."

"Not if I can help it," he said sternly. "It's going to take a lot of adjustments to change from being two to being three. To make that work, I'm going to have to change. I've never had to be very forceful with you because we have such a great way of working things out. I hope we can get to the same place with the three of us. If it doesn't happen, though, be aware that I will be more forceful and demanding than I have ever been before."

"Why would you have to do that," she asked.

"Sweetheart, you are a strong, forceful, sometimes willful person. Frankly, you can be a handful," he told her.

"Mom would sure agree with you," Emma admitted.

"I am afraid that putting you and Ellie together will more than double all of those things, the good and the not so good. You think of me as pretty mild mannered because I can be with just you. If that doesn't work with the two of you, I will be what I have to be. I will not be a henpecked husband."

Emma just looked at him with wide eyes for a while, before saying "Maybe I didn't think through all of the effects of this."

"Would it have changed your mind if you had?"

"No, it wouldn't," she said firmly. "Ellie and I will work together to let you be the same sweet, mild-mannered guy you have always been. We both want that."

"I want that, too," he assured her with a soft kiss. "Now, however, I think you need a claiming fuck to keep you even with your twin."

She jumped from his lap giggling and scampered toward the bedroom, throwing off the few clothes that she had donned as she went.

Fourteen-year-old Andy would be the toughest, so Jack immediately arranged to meet with him that night for dinner. "You know that your dad filed for divorce, right?" he asked the boy.

"The bastard!" Andy snarled, surprising Jack. Father and son had seemed to have a good relationship. "Why isn't Mom enough for him?"

"I guess you hear this a lot from adults, Andy, but it's complicated. I'm going to be straight with you and tell you all sides of it from what I know, OK?" Andy nodded.

"First of all, your dad has never been able to resist a sexy woman."

"You mean it's not just lately?"

"I'm afraid not. That's his weakness. We all have them, so don't be too hard on him for that. So, that's part of what broke them up. The other part is because of your mom."

"She wouldn't cheat on him! Never!" Andy insisted.

"You're right. She wouldn't and she didn't. The problem is that your dad always thought that he was competing with your Aunt Emma for your mom's affection."

"I can see that," Andy agreed. "It's spooky how close they are."

"Tell me about it," Jack joked. "Probably the worst thing is that your dad sensed that he was competing with me, too."

"Huh? You said Mom didn't cheat."

"She didn't. I honestly tried to never do anything wrong with your mom. What happened is that she fell in love with me when your Aunt Emma did, but Emma married me."

"And Dad knew she felt that way?"

"I don't see how he could help noticing it. So you see, even though he is guilty of screwing around, it isn't all his fault."

"God, what a mess. I suppose we'll have to move, won't we."

"Only to our house," Jack said, thankful for the opening. "I'll give it to you straight, Andy. You may want to be careful who you tell this to, but here it is. Your mom is going to be my second wife."

"I thought that was illegal!"

"Legally, she can't be, but in every other way, she will be."

"And Aunt Emma is OK with that?"

"She and your Mom have wanted that for many years."

"I couldn't tell anybody about this. They'd never believe it," Andy said.

"Will you be OK with it?"

"I like all you guys just fine. Won't it be crowded, though?"

"I suspect that the women already have some remodeling plans in mind. Do you know what would be a big help to your mom, a boost she needs right now? Go and ask her what they have planned for your bedroom."

"You mean I'll still have my own?"

"I'm sure we can work that out, even if it's smaller than you are used to."

"Cool! Uh, Uncle Jack, thanks for talking straight with me. I wish ... I wish..."

"Don't go there, Andy. He's still your dad and he loves you. This is not easy for him, either."

Tess, now sixteen, was a different matter entirely. Tess and Jack had always had a marvelous relationship, ever since she first learned how to smirk. Of all of Emma's and Ellie's children, Tess had inherited the most amplified version of the twins' awesome personality. The girl was a force of nature. She and Jack had sparred joyfully since Tess was about four.

"So, is Mom finally going to get her wish?"

"Her wish?"

"Yeah. She's always wanted to sleep with you, Uncle Jack."

"Every night."

"Huh?" He loved evoking that response from the kids, and scoring something, anything, on Tess was a real thrill.

"She's going to be my second wife."

"Wow! Awesome! How cool is that? No wonder she didn't seem very upset today! You know, I always thought that she and Aunt Emma should be living together. Which room do I get?"

"You get right to the important stuff, don't you?" he chuckled.

"What's important is that Mom will be happy instead of depressed. And well-fucked."

"Tess!"

"Hey, I'm sixteen now. I can talk about sex all I want. I've got some news for you that I've been keeping secret. You get to hear it first."

"You're running away with a rock star? You've been chosen as an astronaut? You're joining a harem? What?"

"I'm an escort!"

"You are? Well congratulations! I didn't even know you had applied."

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I've got one problem, though. I'm not very good with those sensors that go in the asshole, in the penis, and around the balls. Now that I'll be living with you, I can bring some home and practice on you for a few hours. After all, you got to do it to me. Fair's fair."