Chapter 9

Jasmine

The Citroen passed all its tests with flying colours; the inspector described it as 'in outstanding condition for its age' and we were not surprised when the legal search showed that it was indeed 'one owner from new'. The cheque was cleared and the sad first owner delivered it to Anna Friday evening. Nothing would do but that we, all four of us, crammed into the little vehicle and drove out to the Strines Inn for supper.

"My treat tonight," Anna announced, "and, Bill, as I'm driving, there's nothing to stop you getting a load on. As long as it doesn't make you incapable, of course!" Her eyes twinkled and Susan and Jasmine giggled at the implication.

"Okay, as you press the point so, I'll have a pint of the Cocker Hoop," Now that's a beer from Jennings, a Cumbrian brewer, a bitter, but quite light and smooth. Probably my favourite beer.

Susan wanted red wine, Anna kept her company with a small glass of the same, but Jasmine asked if she could try the Cocker Hoop. The barmaid (in passing, let me say the Strines often has very attractive young women serving behind the bar, usually students, and that night was no exception) nodded and drew a little in a small glass. She sipped it, nodded and asked for a pint.

I have to admit I can be set in my ways. I'm not keen on food which, as my mother used to say, had been 'mucked about'. There were several items on the menu I liked the look of, but as usual I went for the steak-and-ale pie. They do a fantastic steak-and-ale pie. Jasmine chose the lasagne and Anna and Susan both wanted salmon. We found a table and sat to wait for our meals.

"Pretty barmaid," my wife commented, looking at me meaningfully.

"Aye, that she is," I replied. "Bright, too. Katie, doing an architecture degree at Manchester." Her eyebrows rose and she opened her mouth to speak, but I added, "and not a patch on you, or Anna and Jasmine."

Anna smiled, "nice save, Bill."

"But true," I said looked at her very seriously.

Our food arrived and we gave it the attention it deserved

Somewhat to my surprise, Jasmine finished her beer before I did, and wanted Scotch. She went to the bar, returning with her Scotch and another red wine for Susan. The Scotch seemed to disappear rather rapidly; she was becoming rather giggly.

The dessert menu was good too; the girls all had chocolate sundaes, while I had apple pie. It was gilding the lily, actually, but very nice anyway. I had a Scotch and Anna orange juice, while Jasmine had another Scotch and Susan another glass of wine.

When we ... Anna and I ... extracted Susan and Jasmine from the pub, it was apparent they were both a little worse for wear, particularly Jasmine who had great difficulty in moving in a straight line. After a little thought, we got them into the back of the car and I sat in the front with Anna to make our way home. I was unsurprised that Jasmine as asleep leaning on Susan within half a mile of moving off and Susan was pretty drowsy. Anna drove very carefully. The 600cc 2CV is surprisingly nippy, but she kept the speed down. As we neared Moscar, a short-eared owl flew across the road – Anna pulled to the side and we sat and watched it quartering the moors for about ten minutes, aware of gentle snores from the back seat.

Arriving at home, we faced the problem of two tipsy women, both fast asleep. I'm no muscle man, but Jasmine presented to challenge; I lifted her gently out and carried her upstairs to the guest room. Susan roused enough to walk, with Anna on one side and myself on the other. She didn't protest when we steered her to the guest room and helped her undress. We had to undress Jasmine who was completely out of it, and we tucked them in together, before retiring to the master bedroom, ourselves disrobing and climbing into bed.

Strangely enough we both seemed more interested in the comfort and pleasure of cuddling than anything more energetic, and thus we dropped into the arms of Morpheus.

At some point in the night, Susan had climbed into bed with us. It must have been after one, because I'd had to get out of bed to empty my bladder then, but she was certainly there when I woke. I am not sure what woke me; I don't think it was the music, Allegri's Miserere, which is so smooth and ethereal it tends to lull me into sleep rather than the reverse. It might have been Susan moving, the smell of coffee or the kiss Anna gave me on my exposed shoulder.

"Anna, you wonderful woman!" I eased myself upright and moved a pillow so I could lean comfortably against the wooden head-board, trying not to disturb Susan. "I hope you don't think 'miserere mei, Deus' is appropriate for me this morning?"

( miserere mei, Deus translates as 'have mercy on me, O God' and is the opening line of Psalm 51 in Latin)

She smiled, and leant over to brush her lips against mine. "No, but I suspect it may be Jasmine's response when she surfaces. She drank a lot more than usual last night."

I took the coffee from her and sipped. It was subtly different from my usual, but I was sure I recognised it. "Isn't this Mocha?"

"Spot on! I owe Jasmine a fiver; she bet me you'd know the difference from Macchu Picchu but I didn't believe her."

I shook my head, "They're both very good," I said, "but Mocha is the premier coffee for drinking black; smooth and strong."

"I always thought Mocha was milky coffee with chocolate!"

"Uh uh, you're thinking of Mokka. Mocha is a place that grows wonderful coffee. There's only Jamaican Blue Mountain that'll beat it and that's really expensive."

Susan stirred beside me, wriggling over until her head was resting on my thigh. The hand that wasn't holding the mug dropped and gently stroked her hair. Anna watched, smiling gently but then said, "I'm going to see if Jasmine can stomach some of this coffee," turned and left the room. I sipped my coffee, stroking Susan's hair and letting the music flow over us.

Thus began a golden period of my life. The summer break came to an end; Anna started work teaching and loving it. The fifteen mile drive to work was a nuisance, but she did love that little Citroen. Jasmine returned to University for her third and final year (unless she stayed on for a higher degree or teaching certificate) and began seeing Danny again fairly regularly. I thought she seemed reluctant, but didn't say anything. I assumed that she would resume having sex with him and would then stop sleeping with me but that didn't happen through the Autumn term.

I opened up the old fire-place, tidied up the brick-work, fitted a flue-liner and installed a wood-burning stove ready for the winter...

I don't know how they organised themselves, but I was never alone in bed. I didn't interfere or argue; why tinker with something that isn't broken? Certainly I had no complaints. I thought it was odd that, while Jasmine certainly slept with me regularly on her own, Anna and Susan seemed to come as a pair. It was rare indeed for me to wake up with just one of them.

Christmas was wonderful. Tammy tried to organise a family gathering, but Susan, Anna and Jasmine wanted to have our own time together; they more or less ignored me, arranging for turkey, vegetables and trimmings, a rooted tree from Longshaw and decorations. They got the bird in the oven before we set off for church so after the service they started the pudding, put on the vegetables and made the bread sauce ... Christmas dinner just isn't complete without bread sauce.

We sipped sherry while waiting for the vegetables; enjoyed a Riesling with the meal and Port with the pudding, following it all with coffee. We were none of us very energetic after that; we sat in the living room listening to a recording of Handel's Messiah. I sat on the sofa, while the girls seemed to be taking turns in rotation to sit with me for a cuddle...

If my account sounds as though I just let things happen ... you'd be right. Most of the time, at least. We had our family council each week and didn't need an emergency one at all. (I had their birthdays in my diary as well as anniversaries - in the end I settled on the first time I made love with Anna and Jasmine as their anniversary – I didn't dare upset anyone by forgetting). My 'laisser-faire' approach meant that Christmas night there were three girls in bed with me. It's a large bed, but not that big and we just snuggled close. We slept remarkably well, considering.

Boxing day, we all met at Tammy's. Her house is quite large, much larger than my little two-bedroom cottage, but it was none too big for Tammy and Dave, Danny and Petra, Fee and Steve and their two, Samantha and Emily, plus myself with Susan, Anna and Jasmine. It was very relaxed. I'm not sure what you'd call the casserole Tammy prepared for us all with a choice of potato, pasta or rice, but clearly she'd aimed for simplicity in presentation. It tasted really good and was very satisfying. It was followed by cheese-cake – she'd made several with different flavours.

I noticed that Danny and Jasmine, though friendly, certainly didn't seem at all intimate. In fact Anna and Susan seemed closer, somehow. I don't know how, but Tammy and Fee got us playing silly games, which normally I find excruciatingly uncomfortable, but we all had fun until it was time to go home.

Jasmine was my companion that night. It'd been a couple of days since I'd made love to one of my girls and I welcomed her interest, renewing my acquaintance with her lovely body. Afterwards, I asked her about Danny. She shook her head against my chest.

"I don't think we'll ever get back to where we were," she said. "We're friends, we'll stay friends ... but not more, I think."

The world – at least my little paradisical part of it - came crashing down about my ears on New Year's day. Anna and Susan went off together quite early in the Citroen. Jasmine was out walking with Danny somewhere, I set to, trying to concentrate on the computer and a book review I'd been asked for. I was just taking my first sip of mid-morning coffee when the door-bell rang. When I answered it, I found Tammy standing there with two uniformed Police.