Chapter 11

"Marlin, you have a letter here with the Imperial seal on it." Melody frowned as she walked into the kitchen and dropped what little mail there was on the table.

"Oh goody," he replied with false enthusiasm. "The Emperor has finally sent me the invitation to his birthday party. That thing has been lost in the mail forever." Slipping his finger under the seal he popped it open and pulled out the two sheets of stationary with handwriting on them.

"So what does it say?" Melody demanded.

"What does what say, dear?" Teresa asked as she entered followed by Malinda.

"Marlin got a letter from the empire today and I'm trying to get him to tell what it says," Melody told her.

"It may be official business and he can't tell you, honey," Teresa pointed out.

"No, it's not really official business; and it's not a pardon for the unspeakable acts I committed to get exiled here and it isn't my invitation to the Emperor's birthday party," he sighed. "But it does have to do with..."

"Wait," Teresa interrupted. "What unspeakable acts?" Melody giggled.

"Oh, that's right I don't remember telling either you or Malinda about it," he nodded. "Well, if you must know I was caught in a ... shall we say compromising situation with a young lady..."

"How young?" Teresa's eyes narrowed.

"Sixteen," he admitted sheepishly. "But she did tell me she was nineteen."

"I'd think a lady's man like you would be able to tell the difference between sixteen and nineteen," Malinda snorted.

"You'd think..." he started then paused. "Wait. Maybe I can show you rather than try to describe her to you." He jumped up and rushed out of the room only to come back two minutes later.

"I think it's in here," he said riffling through the pages. "Ah yes, here it is. I was using it as a bookmark and remembered I hadn't been back to this one since just before I met Melody. Here is the scene of my crime, so to speak." He placed a picture down on the table and his three ladies crowded around to look at it.

"Holy shit," Melody gasped. "Look at those tits! They're bigger than mine!"

"You said this woman ... girl was only sixteen?" Teresa shook her head in disbelief.

"Actually she was probably only fifteen when that was taken," he added.

"Look at the legs on that bitch," Melody whistled. "I already knew you were telling the truth but now I really know you were telling the truth."

"Why did you keep the picture?" Malinda teased.

"To remind me what can happen when you think with your dick instead of your head," he laughed.

"Okay, so she was sixteen," Teresa continued. "Not very good judgment although we can see where you might have believed she was older. But so what? Sixteen is still legal. Hell! Fourteen is acceptable around here."

"Possibly," Marlin nodded. "But not if she was the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Inspector General and you got caught banging her in a broom closet by an inspection team. Never did figure out what they were looking for in a broom closet," he mused.

"Maybe two people fucking like bunnies?" Malinda twittered.

"Mandy, your language!" Teresa admonished.

"You mean like, 'Oh, God! Oh, God! Fuck me harder, my Master! Fuck my cunt raw!' and more of the same," Malinda smiled sweetly.

"It's not the same context," Teresa blushed and mumbled. "But your point is taken."

"Anyway the IG wanted me buried under a rock in the farthest corner of the empire and here I am," Marlin grinned holding up his hands. "Ta da!"

"Well, I think we can give you a pass on this one," Melody smirked. "But no more sixteen year-old bimbos."

"Thank God, no!" Marlin exclaimed.

"Hey, you were going to tell us about that letter when we got sidetracked by Miss Big-tits. What is that all about?" Malinda asked.

"Oh, yeah," he sighed. "This has to do with you but I'm not sure how you are going to take it. It may open some old wounds and I need to have your permission before moving on with it. You see when I was talking to that truth-teller..."

"You really think you can get that bastard after all these years?" Malinda hissed through gritted teeth. Fury was in her eyes and tears were running down her cheeks as she sat on his lap digging her fingernails into his shirt. She had been crying and screaming a lot and finally he pulled her into him and just held her tightly. It wasn't overly comfortable and he had the bite marks and scratches to prove it."

"I think we will be able to get the truth finally," he stated flatly.

"Then that son-of-a-bitch will swing," Malinda spat and then sobbed into his neck.

"Do you really think my Tom was k ... killed?" Teresa sat next to him eyes glistening.

"From what you told me about him, it's the only thing that makes sense," he told her gently.

"I knew it wasn't right. I just knew it," she repeated as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Oh, Tom. You poor thing!"

"But the problem is you need Maggie to file a complaint with Imperial Justice. Right?" Melody said.

"Yeah. Officially anyone should be able to file it and they would investigate. One of us could do it," Marlin sighed again. "But in reality my pen-pal tells me in a case this old if the complaint isn't by the victim or an eyewitness then it just gets stuck on the bottom of the pile and never sees the light of day."

"But if Maggie files it, they will investigate?" Melody continued. "Why?"

"Probably," he nodded. "Because the first thing they would do is interview her and if her story checks out then it's a pretty fair chance the one she fingers is guilty. In a case of rape that would mean a big public trial and a hanging right afterwards. Good publicity for Justice and the Agency, for that matter. They like that. If they think they can have somebody swinging at the end of a rope then they'll go for it even after eight years.

"She'll never do it," Malinda shook her head sadly. "She won't even talk about it. You know how hard it is for me to talk about it, and she's even worse."

"So you've told me," he nodded. "But I have to give her the opportunity to see justice done if nothing else. I was thinking that if you wrote her and told her I was coming, maybe I could see her and..."

"Oh, God no!" Malinda shrieked with horror. "She's even more of a man-hater than I was. She'd rather slit your belly than talk to you. You can't go!"

"Then I don't see..." he started.

"I think writing her is a good start," Melody interjected. "If she responds then we'll take it from there."

"I'll follow your lead," Marlin said. "This is really your family's decision."

"You are part of our family now," Teresa said firmly. "And no matter how this turns out, thank you for at least trying." She kissed his cheek lightly.

"Yes, thank you," Malinda kissed the other cheek.

"And thank you for loving us," Melody kissed him hard on the lips. Standing back up she cheerfully hollered, "I win!" and the other two started giggling.

Marlin wrote his truth-teller politely thanking him for the information and letting him know what they were trying to do.

For the next two weeks they heard nothing from Margret. Melody wanted to write again but Marlin convinced her to wait for at least another week.

Marlin did make a few trips during that time and each time with a different one of his ladies. They found the time alone with just the two of them refreshing and deeply enjoyable but all agreed they had missed the others and were happy to return.

One day Melody and Malinda were outside collecting eggs and chasing chickens around the coop while Marlin had caught Teresa in the living room and had her backed against a wall giggling like a schoolgirl while he nibbled her neck. It had progressed to some rather ardent kissing when they heard the front door open. Since it could only be one or more of three people they ignored it. After all Tess had certainly seen them kissing before and that's all they were doing for the moment.

"What the hell are you doing to my mother!" someone screamed and Marlin suddenly felt like a brick wall smacked him in the side throwing him down. As he shook his head trying to clear it he felt a constriction around his throat and started gasping for air.

"Margret! Stop it!" Teresa shouted. "Stop it right now!" Marlin felt no relief from the pressure.

"Ack!" he gasped turning purple.

"God damn-it, Margret!" Teresa bellowed this time. "If you don't stop it right now I'm going to smack you so hard you're still going to be moving when you hit the road!" Marlin looked over and saw his little Teresa cocking her fist at a stranger. One part of his mind, the part not immediately concerned with trying to breathe, took in the red-gold hair, decent-sized breasts and a face that could only belong to a Hawking woman: the mysterious older sister, Margret.

"But Mama, he was..." Margret protested but he did feel the pressure lessen until he could get gulps of air into his lungs.

"He was kissing me, you twit!" Teresa hollered over her shoulder as she ran back to Marlin and flopped down beside him.

"Are you okay, baby?" she asked anxiously as she cradled his head in her lap.

"Okay," he gasped still breathing hard. "Think I'm okay."

"You'd better be, honey," she growled glaring at her dumbfounded daughter as she gently rocked him. The kitchen door slammed open and they heard two sets of boots running towards them.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" Malinda yelled as both she and Melody burst into the room.

"Your sister's home and she tried to kill Marlin," Teresa ground out through gritted teeth.

"You bitch!" Malinda screamed and started towards the stunned Margret.

"No," Marlin forced out. "No! Your sister came in the house while Trish and I were ... ah, kissing and I think she got the wrong idea."

"Kissing, huh?" Melody knelt next to him and gave him the once over herself. After kissing him herself, just to make sure it still worked, she rocked back on her haunches and chuckled. "I guess it's a good thing she didn't get here about five minutes later, isn't it."

"We wouldn't do that in the living room," Teresa blushed still stroking his hair. "Not with Tess around," she qualified as Melody started to say something.

"Yeah, I suppose not," she smirked. Her smile disappeared and she stood up as she looked at her eldest sister. Marlin also stood up and pulled Trish up alongside.

"Hi, Maggie," Melody nodded. "We didn't expect to see you."

"He was kissing mom ... Then you kissed him..." Margret sputtered.

"Well then let's really confuse the shit out of you," Malinda said with a crooked smile and stepping over to Marlin spent a good ten seconds sticking her tongue down his throat.

"What in the hell is going on with this family?" Margret demanded angrily.

"Well I guess I didn't tell you everything in those letters I sent you," Melody admitted.

"Why don't we all sit down and talk?" Marlin interjected. "This is going to be a lot for your sister to absorb and comprehend. At least we should be comfortable when..."

"Mama?" Then heard a small voice behind them. Turning around they saw Tess standing in the hallway looking at her mother with a combination of hopefulness, longing and apprehension.

"Tess," Margret choked out. She was as pale as a sheet. Suddenly she turned and ran out the front door.

"Mama?" Tess sobbed helplessly.

"I'd better go talk to her," Melody said grimly. "I'm about the only one she's usually able to be civil to," saying that she rushed to follow her older sister outside.

Tess was crying harder now and she ran over to Marlin grabbing him around the waist. "Why does Mama hate me so much?" the young girl whimpered. "What did I do to her?" Marlin scooped the child up in his arms and carried her over to the couch where he sat down with her on his lap.

"Look at me, sweet thing," he crooned. "Look at me, please." He peeled her arms off from his waist and placed them on the sides of his face. Slowly she brought her chin up and met his eyes and there was a twitch in the corner of her mouth that acted like it wanted to turn into a smile.

"That's better," he said softly and smiled at her. Now, do you trust me?"

"Of course, Uncle Marlin," the twitch turned into a small, tentative smile.

"Then I want you to believe me when I tell you than you did nothing wrong. Nothing!" he said firmly. "Your mama was hurt very badly when she was young and that is causing a lot of pain for everybody, but you did not cause this. It was not your fault.

"I don't know if we have time to talk about it now," he continued. "When Melody brings your mama back in, the rest of us have a number of things to discus with her that I'm not sure she's going to react very well too." Malinda snorted and Teresa elbowed her in the side.

"Oh, you mean like all of you sleeping together and Grandma's baby?" Tess asked.

"Well," Marlin cleared his throat. "Those certainly are two of them."

"But Grandma is so happy it almost hurts to feel her," Tess said puzzled. "And the rest of you are too."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean your mother is going to approve of what we have been doing," Marlin nodded.

"The master of understatement," Malinda snorted. "Maggie is going to shit her pants and then she's going after your balls with a dull knife."

"Mandy! Your language! There is a child present." Teresa admonished. When Malinda looked at her askew she immediately continued, "The bedroom does not count. That is private and between only us."