Chapter 5

It was several hours after everyone cleared out. Rebecca was still resting. The after effects of anesthesia were still taking their toll. Colleen and I chatted for a long time with Winnie sitting beside us. Colleen seemed to want to make sure Winnie completely understood how it was going to be.

" ... be a good girl and take care of our husband." Colleen's direction to Winnie was pretty brave, and clear. She saw the three of us as a single marriage and my two ladies wanted Winnie to make us a foursome.

I knew they didn't love me any less, but adding another woman to our lives, home, and bedroom was a huge change. The immediate need, in the eyes of Rebecca and Colleen, is me. They'd experienced how intense our lovemaking was, and how often we engaged in it. I'd gracefully relented when their pregnancies reached the logical stopping point, and never said a word about doing without, but they needed to take care of me, even when they couldn't take care of me. That's what led to them choosing Winnie as our new partner.

As Rebecca rested, Colleen seemed to need me nearby. We cuddled, talked, laughed, and poked fun at anything and everything. It was as normal as it could be. Winnie stayed with us, unwilling to step out to eat, or consult with our security team. She was sticking to us like glue.

Poor thing was probably so confused she didn't know what we expected of her, and feared doing the wrong thing. Colleen figured it out and said, "Winnie. You can see how Brian refuses to sleep in our new home without us? You've been with us enough to understand how completely he takes care of those he loves, and you know how you respond when he looks at you and smiles.

"Stop overthinking this. The hardest thing I had to learn when Rebecca and I chose him, was to let things be whatever they were, and see what happens. It helped a great deal when Mother and Daddy saw the way I changed when I fell in love for the first time in my life, and gave our special circumstances their blessing.

"Brian seemed to just go with the flow. He never seemed to adjust. He simply lived in the moment, as it came along. It took some time to understand, until 'Becca pointed it out to me. Brian knew he was dying. He accepted his death as something that was going to happen whether he liked it, or not, so he decided to live, instead of waiting to die.

"Those awful people kept coming and coming, until they killed him.

"Nothing prepared me for the hurt and grief of losing him. Rebecca and I walked around like zombies. Mother stayed with us night and day. Daddy almost never left our side. Our love was the kind of love people write stories about.

"And then he came back to us. None of us knows why, how it was possible, or understands the first thing about how a soul could die in one body and wake up in another body, and how that person could be a sixteen year old boy, murdered by his father.

"I could tell you about that week for a year, and not cover all the emotions we went through trying to believe, disbelieve, understand, misunderstand, and then simply accept that it happened and stop torturing ourselves over how and why. The important thing is that God, fate, or the universe gave us back our love, and here we are.

"We learned quickly to be a threesome. Rebecca, because she's a doctor, I suppose, had no embarrassment about having Brian walk in when she was using the bathroom. I wanted to crawl under a rock the first time he walked in on me that way, but then I realized that it didn't bother me when Rebecca did the same thing, and we were just as intimate as 'Becca and I, so what WAS the difference?

"That's how we worked our way through the changes in our lives. When I understood that he really and truly loved me, everything I feared about our intimacy seemed far less worrisome. You need to understand that Rebecca and I talked about you being part of us, for a long time, before we mentioned it to you, and Brian found out after, because we knew he would resist out of loyalty and commitment.

"We have had one woman join us for a one-time foursome. It was kind of like a trial run. She was younger than Rebecca and I, and older than Brian. She was also cute, but overweight and totally innocent. Rebecca has a sneaky streak in her, and she really wanted a chance to play with Maggie. She can't wait to get in your panties, either." Colleen said that with a smirk. Winnie blushed but held her ground.

"We saw how Brain looked at you, and how he accepted that you were around all the time, because of your job. 'Becca kept commenting on how pretty and sexy you were, and I knew poor Brian was going to die from neglect if we cut him off for three, or four months, so we decided to risk it and ask you to join our family."

James made his wishes known just then, and Colleen raised both arms in a request for me to bring her baby. As he settled himself on Mommy's nipple, Winnie watched in awe. She was completely devoted to our children, already. We wouldn't have to worry about inattentive guards while she was part of our lives, but I wondered how long before she asked to join the mommy club.

Rebecca awakened and wanted some attention, so we moved our party to her side of the room. While Colleen nursed James, I brought Millicent to Rebecca and watched, enthralled as she had a snack. Colleen laughed when James burped, but kept right on eating. "Typical male. Feed 'em, clothe 'em, and watch them take over..." We all laughed as she moved James from one nipple to the other.

"Rebecca, did you know Colleen fed both babies when you were asleep, before?" Winnie wanted to feel a part of the family, and this was a great way to get into a discussion about breast feeding.

Rebecca gave her the look. "Seriously, you went out like a light bulb, and Millicent Jane fussed, so Colleen reached toward her, and Brian put her in her other arm. Millicent reached up, latched on, and went to town."

Rebecca looked lovingly at Colleen and smiled. "Thanks," she breathed. "I guess I was pretty worn out. Are you both staying with us tonight? Because, if you are, we need another bed brought in."

Colleen interrupted and said, "Becca, we're fine. Winnie will share Brian's."

We both looked up, surprised, but Rebecca said, "Yeah. That does make sense, but if you two start making too much noise, we're kicking you out. New mothers need their rest, so keep it down to a dull roar and have at it." She was having fun with the degree of discomfort she was causing Winnie.

They shared a look that said so much more than words, and Winnie turned to me and said, "Brian, I guess they've decided I'm part of this family, so if you're not repulsed, I will share the bed with you. Cuddling with you sounds nice..."