Chapter 13

Autumn set in, a mix of wonderful crisp dry days when Cardiff's University buildings looked great in the sunshine, and miserable wet days and nights when the rain drove in from the Atlantic and defeated our so-called 'showerproof' anoraks. On those nights of steady drizzle, we stayed at home. As Julie and I now lived (and loved) in what had been the sitting room, we spent much of our social time in the kitchen. It was also one of the easiest rooms to keep warm, once we had rigged some cardboard up against the big window as extra insulation.

Malcolm stayed with Sian most nights; sometimes the two of them slept over at his house. The two of them settled into a comfortable relationship with the three of us; when Malcolm was about our conversation didn't have the intimacy and sexual openness that we had enjoyed before Sian made her move on Malcolm, but it was clear that they were an item.

Vee made no effort to ask Sian to share Malcolm; we tried to avoid discussing relationships in front of him. I knew that he was actually taking a huge step in having a real girlfriend, probably an even bigger move for him that mine had been eight months earlier when I first slept with Sian.

We never mentioned that I had started off with Sian; it was all in the past, and not only was I deliriously happy with Julie, but I was also delighted that Sian and Malcolm had found each other. I most certainly didn't want to say anything that might put their fledgling relationship in jeopardy.

Vee was occasionally miserable as the 'odd one out'; her fiancee Jeff didn't come to visit, and her only outings were with the four of us, or occasionally when I made the effort to take her out for an evening. She certainly wasn't getting as much sex as she had become used to, and Julie persuaded me to help her out with the odd surprise visit to her room in the middle of the night.

One night I had a very narrow escape from being caught by Malcolm. I had gone for a pee at about one o'clock in the morning, sneaked into Vee's bedroom, and quietly woken her to scratch her itch. We had learned to use one of Vee's old teeshirts to muffle any noises she made as she neared her climax, and I was reasonably sure that with the door shut, there shouldn't be too much sound escaping. Having finished, and kissed her goodnight, I was just opening her door when I saw the landing light come on.

Naked as a jaybird, my cock still covered in Vee's juices, I stood as still as a statue while Malcolm walked past, had a pee, and went back to Sian's room. I waited for a minute to give him time to get back into bed, then tip-toed into the bathroom to wash myself before sneaking back in with Julie.

I didn't want to give Malcolm any evidence that I was having sex with Vee as well as Julie; I knew that he was a one-woman man, and I didn't think that he'd be thrilled to catch me fucking Vee, and he wouldn't understand at all that Julie had actually asked me to keep Vee satisfied.

It wasn't a sustainable situation, and Julie and I often discussed trying to find a suitable boyfriend for Vee. Julie told me that she was having the same conversation with Sian, but neither of them could come up with a plan either.

At the beginning of December, almost three weeks after we had been to Clifton, Julie got a note from Sheila asking me to phone her. Julie told me when I got in from the lab, and I nipped down to the callbox before supper.

"Thanks for calling back so quickly, Jon - any chance you could be at Bristol Parkway by 8.30 on Saturday morning?"

"For you, my beloved, anything, even such a desperately early start before dawn on a Saturday! May I ask why?"

"Flatterer! I think I may have just discovered the perfect Christmas present for Julie. I want to take you to see it, and if you are happy with the idea, then we'll get it. And I'm very much hoping that you'll stay with us for the weekend!"

Sheila would not say any more.

I was intrigued, and anyway, I always liked being with Sheila and Adrian - they were becoming really good friends.

Sheila was now my official girlfriend - at least in the eyes of her lecturers and fellow students - so it wouldn't do any harm to be seen with her again.

I told her that I would check with Julie, and then phone her back after supper to confirm that I would be there on Saturday.

I really wasn't entirely happy going over to Bristol without Julie, so I nipped back home to tell her that I had been invited to stay the night, and asked her if she wanted to come.

"No, darling, I'm going to be off games anyway, so I'll be quite happy here."

"But it doesn't seem right leaving you and going on my own!"

"Well, if you remember, you very kindly bought me a ticket to Bristol when you were having to go back to work at the vegetable factory in September, so that I could have my wicked way with Adrian and Sheila for a few days, so of course I don't have a problem with you going to see Sheila at all!"

I trotted down to the call box and dialled their number - I now knew it by heart - and told Sheila that we had Julie's approval.

Wednesday and Thursday flashed past; Friday was another long day in the lab, getting the latest chemical process finished so that we could have the weekend off.

Julie's period had started sometime during the day, so I wasn't able to make love to my darling that night; I just held her close and told her that I adored her.

The next morning, I made Julie and Vee a very early cuppa and left them cuddled together in Vee's bed with a fresh hot water bottle each, and they sent me off to Sheila with their blessing.

Sian and Malcolm had arranged another day's hill walking, and the two girls planned to spend the day lazing around the flat and keeping warm.

I pulled on my old anorak and set off for the station through the early morning gloom. The Intercity 125 route to Parkway was faster than the stopping train to Temple Meads, and at that time of the day the London-bound train coming in to Cardiff from Pembroke Dock was virtually empty.

I met Sheila as arranged on the bleak open platform of Parkway station; a brand new and then unfinished out of town railway station, designed to improve journey times on the London to South Wales line by reducing the need for all services to run into Temple Meads station and out again.

It was in the middle of nowhere.

There were two stark concrete platforms, a temporary building trying to be combined ticket office and waiting room, and a lot of mud. The wind and a light drizzle had open season; there was no other shelter. As the train came to a halt, a bright blue shape that I recognised as Sheila came out of the building and stood waiting on the platform with her hood up and scarf wrapped round her ears. There were only a couple of people getting on the train; I was the only one who alighted.

I ran down the platform to meet her; she kissed me, took my hand, and quickly marched me off down a muddy road.

"What's all this about, Sheila?"

"Do you trust me, Jon?"

"God yes, with my life!"

"You know that you've got that problem where you can't bend Gustav too much without it hurting you? I think there may be a simple solution, and I hope you'll be willing to look at it. If it can be sorted, you'll be a lot more versatile, and Julie would certainly enjoy that!"

"She most certainly would! Is that what you meant by a Christmas present for Julie? The only thing she'd like more would be Adrian in a pillow case at the end of her bed when she wakes up on Christmas morning!"

"She's going to be sadly disappointed on that one, Santa has promised him to me!"

"So, where are we going now?"

"The Frenchay Hospital. Dr Baxter is the consultant Urologist at the medical school, and after his lecture on Monday I went up to him and asked him a couple of questions. He asked me to bring you over to his office at Frenchay this morning."

We got to the hospital, and Sheila spoke to a porter in the main reception, who pointed her to some stairs in the corner. We went up two flights, through a double fire door, and along a brightly lit corridor, where she knocked on a door. It was opened by a grizzled man in his early fifties, who smiled broadly as he recognised her. He ushered us in to his office, and asked us to sit down.

"Dr Baxter, this is my boyfriend Jon Baker. He's the one I talked to you about on Monday."

"Yes, Miss Carter, I remember. You are a very lucky man, Mr Baker. We set up my Urology lectures in the first term with the intention of awakening some of our more idealistic students to the less sensational but equally important branches of medicine, and your girlfriend is the first student to have ever asked me a sensible question! I think she was very brave to broach such a personal matter, and I respect her for it. I just hope that I can help the two of you."

"Before we start, Mr. Baker, can you please nip along to the loo down the corridor on the right, and try to empty your bladder completely?"

I did as I was asked, taking the opportunity to give Gustav a wash while I was at it. Luckily, I had put on clean underpants that morning!

Dr Baxter got me to take off my jeans and lie down on his couch. He put on thin latex gloves and asked me to pull down my underpants.