Chapter 7

The next morning at breakfast Jack noticed Beth was unusually quiet and kept giving wide-eyed glances back and forth between Lynn and himself.

"What's up, Squirt," he finally asked.

"She heard screaming last night," Anne said blandly. "She came into my room to ask if you two were hurting each other." Lynn was at the sink and Jack could see her face blush a bright red; he thought it was kind of cute.

"We weren't hurting each other, Squirt," he said. "We were just playing Mommy and Daddy games."

"Oh," she said visibly relaxing. "You were having sex."

"Well," he drawled, "We like to think of it as making love."

"Not the way you two were doing it," muttered Anne.

Jack couldn't help but burst out laughing.

For a minute he thought Lynn was going to pop a blood vessel or maybe die from embarrassment but finally she also started laughing as she came over to sit down at the table. "I'm sorry we were so loud, sweetie," she said. "We'll be more careful next time."

"I certainly hope so," Anne said dryly, the grin on her face taking the sting out of her words. "Beth learned some new words last night." She paused for a moment, "I think we both did." Lynn turned bright red again and buried her face in her hands on the table. Jack got a little concerned when he saw her shoulders tremble and heave and even more so when she lifted her head and he could see the tears streaming down her cheek. A second later he realized they were from barely suppressed laughter and with relief he rolled his eyes upward.

"Have you always been that, um, vocal?" Anne asked, her own lips twitching.

"I'm not sure it's appropriate to be discussing my sex life in front of a nine-year old," Lynn chuckled, "but no, I'm usually a bit quieter and I'll try to control myself in the future."

"Don't worry about Beth," Anne glanced over at the young girl and sighed. "Even at her age there isn't much they don't know about nowadays. We're very open about sex around here and I have always made it clear if she ever has any questions she can come to me and ask. You don't have to feel obligated to be as open; I'm sure she'll understand. It just seemed silly to me to try to be secretive about it since it's so much a part of the culture we live in. I mean what with intercourse being a part of almost every show on the vid, it's not like she won't see it. She might as well hear the truth about it from me."

"I even asked Mommy if I could watch her having sex," Beth chimed in. "But she hasn't had it for a long time." Beth seemed to be a little disappointed.

"Well, there is that," Anne said. Anne also had the ability to blush and Jack thought that was almost as cute as when Lynn did it. "To be honest there just hasn't been time since Troy ... Well, you know. Besides it seems like there aren't all that many men out there who want to have any real relationship. I suppose it's cheaper to go down to the local state house and rip off a piece than take a woman out for dinner and a show. Less emotional baggage, also. So it's been awhile."

"I find that difficult if not impossible to believe, Anne," Jack added. "But then I thought the same thing about Lynn, not that I'm not extremely happy it turned out that way. But I still don't understand. I mean, just look at the two of you. Both of you are absolute knockouts! I always figured the male population in Chicago was either stupid or gay. I guess it must be the same down here."

"Is he always this sweet?" Anne asked Lynn.

"Pretty much," Lynn nodded with a smile. "I don't know about all the men being stupid or gay. I just figured they didn't want to have anything to do with an old woman with a kid.

"Not that I really worried about it, I have to admit," she continued. "I hurt for a long time after Troy died. Sex wasn't something I was interested in and I had Jack for companionship. When I finally got around to thinking about sex again there were the money problems and it started looking like I was going to have more sex than I ever wanted."

"Yep, just like me," Anne agreed. Then she sighed, "It must me nice having a young stud to take care of you."

"Okay," Jack groaned as he stood up. "I've certainly heard enough. Hey, Squirt, want me to drive you to school?"

"It's just around the block, Jackie," Beth replied. For some reason she had started to call Jack "Jackie." He kind of liked it.

"Well then, how 'bout I walk you there?" She nodded, grinned, stood up and rushed out of the room to get her perscomp bag.

"That's nice of you, Jack," Anne said. "You don't have to if you don't want to; I usually walk her to school."

"I'd be glad to, if you don't mind," he said with a shrug. "I haven't got anything better to do and to be honest the two of you are embarrassing the hell out of me." Both Lynn and Anne laughed at him as he left to find his sister.

+ + +

"I heard Mommy call Daddy an asshole the other day. Did you think she really meant that?" They had just left the house and Beth was holding Jack's hand as they strolled down the walkway. "I mean that's bad, isn't it? Being called an asshole?"

"Yes, it is, as you well know, Squirt," he said. "You can fool somebody with that little girl act, but not me."

"Okay fine," she pouted. "You're no fun at all, sometimes. But I still don't understand what Daddy did, why he did it."

"What he did was have two wives," Jack answered, "which isn't illegal. The bad part was he kept it from each of them. Essentially he was lying to both of them ― all of us I guess ― and that's what really hurt. It made the money situation bad for both Lynn and Anne and of course I never got to know you and that really makes me angry.

"As for why he did it..." Jack continued. "That I really can't answer. I assume he loved us all but was too afraid to tell us about each other. I had thought better of him, but it just goes to show you really can't know anybody completely."

"You'll make everything better now though," it was a statement not a question.

"I'll certainly try, Squirt; that much I can promise."

+ + +

It only took a few days before their new combined household settled into a comfortable routine. Jack spent most of his time putting the money they had received from Anne's contract into play, some being integrated into his already established investments and the rest branching out into new areas he had planned to look at once they had built up a cash reserve. He had fun helping Beth with her homework although he suspected she mostly asked just for the excuse of being with him. They also spent a considerable amount of time at the beach. After all what was the point of living near it if you didn't use it?

"Why aren't you in college, Jack?" Anne asked one evening.

"I can get drunk here at home," he came back with his pat answer, "and save the two hundred and fifty grand cover charge." At this she snorted but still insisted on knowing.

"It's just too expensive," he shrugged. "And to be honest, why do I need it? I'm not planning to be a lawyer or a doctor, so why bother? Right now we're making do quite nicely and I don't need a degree to do that. Look at the two of you: you both have degrees and can't use them. What makes you think it would help me out either? Someday if I get really bored then maybe I will, but not now. Besides I still haven't graduated high school."

"What?" Anne gasped. "But you haven't gone to any classes or even looked at a text that I can remember. Shouldn't you register down here and at least go?"

"Nope. The school I'm attending has a pretty good distance learning program. Before we came down here I got a few weeks ahead so I'm still good for a while. I was thinking next week I'd finish up the rest so I didn't have to worry about it. It's mostly just silly crap, anyway. Shouldn't take me more than a few days to knock it out. I've just been putting it off because I like the beach better."

"Oh," Anne murmured as Lynn snickered from across the room. "Hey wait! I never told you I had a degree. How did you know?"

"Well," Jack thought quickly. "As contract holder I have access to all your records."

"Jack," Lynn said warningly.

"Well, I do," he insisted.

"That may be true," she declared. "But that isn't where you learned it. Was it?"

"Maybe not," he admitted grudgingly and then shot Lynn a poisonous glance. "Okay, fine. Anne, I hacked your files before we came down here. There, is that better?" Lynn giggled.

"That's impossible!" Anne stated. "Everybody's files are supposed to be completely protected. Nobody can get into them!"

"Well, if it's impossible then I guess I didn't," Jack said innocently. Anne just sat there with her mouth hanging open.

"If you want to keep a secret from Jack," Lynn added dryly. "Don't put it anywhere near a perscomp. Write it down on paper then burn the paper."

"You know I wouldn't pry into your personal affairs," he said sounding hurt. Then just to be honest he added, "Unless I had to, of course." Anne just looked back and forth between the two in amazement.