Chapter 3

Meg phoned Kate early the next morning.

"Kate I forgot to mention it yesterday. Stuart thinks you should have Medical Insurance. You handle things so well that without you the office would soon go back to rack and ruin. You need a complete medical though, so I have made an appointment for you tomorrow at ten o' clock. It's a Doctor Chambers. Is that ok?"

"This is a bit sudden. Stuart hasn't said anything to me."

"Oh come on Kate. You know how Stuart is. If I don't run round behind him here and you at the office, he would never get anything done. I can change the time if you wish."

"No. That's alright. Where is this Doctor?"

"Just round the corner from you. It's the Arden practice."

"I know them." Then a thought struck Kate. "Meg! That's a private practice. They're a bit pricey for me."

"The business pays, Kate. It's in Stuart's interest." She let Kate absorb that for a moment. "Did you enjoy yesterday?"

"Tremendously, it was fantastic. I could hardly get to sleep last night thinking about it."

"Good. Gid, Charles and Alistair were very taken with you. Julie and the girls thought you fitted in very well. They asked if they would see you again."

"I would like to see them again."

"Well that's settled then. I am certain that the next invite will include you."

The medical was very thorough. Kate was surprised when in addition to blood samples he asked for a Urine sample and gave her a little pot for a stool sample.

"Just label it and drop it back on Monday," He told her. He also took swabs from her throat and vagina. He was very, very thorough. Kate asked when he would be ready to issue the certificate.

"I could do it now apart from the swabs, blood and stool samples. We need a few days for those to culture. But I am sure that this time next week it will be done."

Stuart returned later that day and seemed a little vague about the medical insurance.

"Yes. I did talk about it with Meg and left it with her as she seemed so insistent about it. Any way she normally deals with that sort of stuff." Kate was a little surprised. Meg had given her the impression that it was at Stuarts urging that this happened.

Kate got on with translating the orders and bringing order out of chaos. He was doing what he did best. Phoning contacts and generating business. They normally left at five in the afternoon, but because he was late back they both worked on until half past six. It was then that he mentioned his next sales journey.

"Kate, I shall be going to Ireland Tuesday next week. Doubt that I shall be back until at least Tuesday the following week. It takes me all that time to get everything done."

"You spend more time in the Bars than in the customers." She grinned at him. He grinned back at her.

"That's the way it is done over there. You've got to have the craic you know. Anyway the customers are there in the bar with you, so its business, business all the way."

"And of course you hate it."

"Kate! You are too sarcastic for one so young."

Kate came in on the Saturday and arranged for the samples he needed to be packed in a wicker basket and air-freighted to Dublin, cursing Stuart all the while. The trip had not been in the diary. On Monday she would be phoning the appointments that were in the diary and apologising for the unavoidable cancellation. Stuart flew from Gatwick early Tuesday morning.

Wednesday dawned and promised to be a really warm day. Kate did not look forward to being in the office, even with the windows open the close proximity of other, higher, buildings allowed little of any cooling breeze to blow through. Therefore when Meg phoned and asked if she would like to come to the house and have lunch, Kate jumped at the chance.

Meg and Stuart's home was an imposing residence, built in the nineteen thirties. It occupied a large plot and was screened from neighbours by trees and shrubs, all part of the large plot. To add to the seclusion the nearest neighbour was five hundred yards away. Meg had told her that the house was built for a reclusive, but very rich businessman. Stuart did dabble in the garden, one of the only relaxations he had, but most of the maintenance was done by a jobbing gardener. The house boasted three receptions rooms and five bedrooms. Stuart had used one of the bedrooms as an office; until Meg got fed up with the mess he created and told him to get an office in town. As Kate drove up the circular drive, Meg opened the door. She was wearing a bikini.

Meg welcomed Kate with a kiss on the cheek. Knowing it would be hot today; Kate had worn a sundress to work. Even so she felt the heat. Meg examined her friend critically.

"You look very good in that dress, but I suspect you are still quite warm. Would you like to borrow a bikini? We can sit out on the patio for lunch, and you could also have a dip in the pool."

"Would you mind?" Kate asked. "That would be heaven."

"Of course not. Come on, we'll go and find one for you."

That proved a little more difficult than said. Meg was not endowed too well, and the bikini top that fit her would not cover Kate's more generous bust. By adjusting the strings it would stay in place, but cut in badly at the sides. Meg looked at the problem laterally.

"Nothing for it but to go topless. The patio and pool area are secluded, the garden gate is locked, and I, will swallow my pride and join you." With that she untied her top and let it fall to the floor of the bedroom. Kate looked from Meg then down to her breasts, bulging out of the undersized bikini. She grinned and pulled the strings. Meg then muttered with chagrin "I look like a little girl compared to you."

The lunch Meg had prepared was a fresh salad with salmon, coleslaw and mayonnaise new potatoes. With a glass of cool white wine to wash it down Kate was content. They lay side by side on sun loungers keeping out of the direct sun with a large patio umbrella. Their chat was desultory at first until Kate mentioned that any children Meg may have would love this spot. She was alerted to Meg's discomfort by her silence.

"Oh, Meg. I'm sorry. Have I got into a difficult area?"

"No you haven't really. I will probably never have any children."

"Why? Is there a problem?" Meg shook her head and thought quietly. Kate remained silent, allowing her friend to gather herself. Eventually Meg started to speak.

"Kate If you were just an employee of Stuart's I wouldn't say anything. But you are a friend now to both of us. A good friend so I will tell you. Stuart never has been physically my lover. When we married I knew he wouldn't be, but I love him and he loves me. Everything you see around here is evidence of that." Kate was bewildered.

"Is it medical of some kind?"

"No. I think they call it physiological. Stuart is asexual. He does not experience any sexual attraction to anyone man or woman, and has no desire for sexual contact."

"Not ever?" Meg shook her head.

"Not ever. The psychiatrist reckoned that that this occurs in about one in ten thousand. Stuart told me all about it before we married. There was no deceit in him. I accepted him like that and he has been a good husband to me."

"Can nothing be done?" Kate was truly sorry for her friend and tears slipped down her cheeks. Meg shrugged.

"Only if you can rewire his brain." She leaned across and with her finger wiped the tears away. "Don't be upset, dear Kate. Stuart is happy and so am I."

"But what about your em ... your."

"My sexual needs, were you going to ask?" A deep red blush suffuse Kate's face. Meg leant towards her and whispered.

"They get taken care of. My friends look after me." Kate's shock showed on her face and Meg laughed. "There! That shocked you." Her smile remained as she went on. "Stuart understands. He doesn't want to know anything nor have evidence discovered, but he does understand. I wish he could find it in him, somehow to make love with me. It would get some of that weight off him in a most pleasurable way."