Chapter 15

Jennie and George dropped off Henry at his chambers, then drove home to Kent to resume the baby-making. "I'm fairly certain we've done the deed already," Jennie said, "but let's just be absolutely certain."

"You don't think today's events are too upsetting?" George asked while undressing

"No way!" Jennie said while unclasping her bra. "If Mum had been crushed about it - then perhaps. But it really felt like some evil dream finally ended."

George laughed. "Yes, your mother seemed quite content - once Major Harman showed up."

"How old is he do you think?" Jennie asked, dropping her panties and flinging herself on the bed.

"If he retired a year ago then he would be around 56," George said. "Very well kept!" he added - while providing visual proof to Jennie he was too,

"Do you think they will, you know," Jennie suddenly blushed like a school girl.

George smiled. "I hope for both of them they'll shag themselves senseless." He removed his boxers with some difficulty.

"George!" Jennies squealed. "That's my MOTHER you're talking about."

"Yes," George said. "And in 17 years I will be 56 - and I certainly intend to be still shagging you senseless then. Our teenaged children will just have to live with the fact."

He entered her and established a fast rhythm. "If we're open about sex then they won't worry. If they learn early that the noises are OK and Mummy howling is a good thing then they shan't be embarrassed about it."

Jennie didn't answer. She was howling out an earth-shattering orgasm. On the third repeat George came too.

Henry parked the car in the school yard. It was fairly full. The lights had already been dimmed when he entered the hall, but he found Annie and the two youngest easily - three heads of flaxen blond curls were easy to spot on the front row. He lifted up Leah - their 2½ year old youngest, named after George's sister, her god mother - sat down and placed her on his lap. He put his arm around Annie, kissed her tenderly and patted 5 year old Lisa on the head. Before either of them could say anything the curtains went up.

7 year old Alex - short for Alexandra - was in a grumpy mood. Daddy hadn't showed up for the play! Where's the fun in having a lead roll in the school play if your daddy isn't there to see it? Mummy said Deidre had called to say Daddy would be late. Alex knew 'late'. It usually meant he wouldn't come at all. She glared at her mother and siblings on the first row and nearly forgot her opening lines when she spotted Daddy with Leah on his lap and an arm around Mummy. She smiled a smile that lit up the entire hall and launched into the play with gusto.

When the applause had finally ended, Alex came running down. "Daddy! You made it home! Deidre said you would be late!"

"I was late," Henry said. "I only got in moments before you started, but I saw it all. You were brilliant."

"Why were you so late Daddy?" Lisa asked.

"I had to help Uncle George," Henry said. "He is getting married to a very nice girl called Jennie and Jennie's stepfather had suddenly died."

"Oh," Alex said. "Were Jennie and her mum very upset?"

Henry hesitated. "No," he finally said. "They weren't." 'Well, they were upset about finding him but I shan't tell them that, ' he thought.

Annie in particular, but also Alex and Lisa, looked stunned. Only Leah didn't care. She was fast asleep in Henry's arms. "Well, he was an evil stepfather, so they are not really sad," Henry said.

The girls took that at face value - their Fairy Tale books were positively swarming with evil step-parents. Annie looked like one big question mark though. "I'll tell you later," Henry mouthed as they walked out of the hall towards the car. They only had a brief drive home; Annie had walked over with the girls.

"So how is the future Mrs. Sanders?" Annie asked when they had put the girls to bed.

"Very nice," Henry said. "A real honey. She has a strong superficial likeness to Lillian, only, ahem, bigger" - he made a hand gesture in front of his chest - "but she is everything Lillian is not: George is completely over the moon."

"Is she much younger than him?" Annie asked. She was herself 7 years younger than Henry - she was a distant relative of George's and had met Henry at George and Lillian's wedding when she was still a school girl of 17. But it had been love at first sight and Henry had patiently broken down her family's reservations and finally married her when she had finished school and her education.

"Very," Henry replied. "She'll be 22 in autumn."

"Oh," Annie said. "So they will want kids?"

"I should think so," Henry said. "George always wanted them."

Annie nodded. She had never liked Lillian much. And Lillian had been outright unpleasant about Henry and Annie having babies. But she loved her third cousin. It would be so good for George to have kids at last. Perhaps she could talk Henry into having one more. She knew that he would like to have a boy - even though he doted on his 'three little princesses' as he called them. She had only just gone back on the pill after having weaned Leah: Towards the end she thought Henry was getting as much from her as Leah was; this particular kink - if you could call it that - had spiced up their sex life ever since Alex was a baby. The first time they had made love after Alex was born Annie's breasts had started spraying milk as she came. Rather than being turned off or revolted, Henry had gently suckled her - sending her off to new highs. She got all wet just thinking about it.