Just a Jab Ch. 17

Linda agreed, "Yes Sophia. We'd like to know, but it can wait till you are ready. We'll help in any way possible."

Sophia had another sip and spoke, "It's okay. We just lost control. 'He' visited today because it was the twins birthday, specifically their eighteenth," as she looked to each of her daughters putting a hand onto each of their knees within reach, "Sorry girls, I would have done anything to spare this from you. The bastard didn't even have the decency to talk to me in private, he just had to let me know with you there while his little 'honey' gloated from the side."

Bronwyn made to get up and leave expressing her thoughts they might need some privacy, but Sophia waved her down telling her she was like family now. Bronwyn had a new tear in her eye hearing this from Sophia.

Sophia continued, "You too Janet. Maria, sorry we must seem like pathetic women," Maria shook her head to let her know she did not think this, "Oh John, Linda I am really really glad you are still in our lives."

She paused for a moment to take a deep breath turning it into a sigh as she bolstered her courage to continue, "I know this isn't the end of the world or anything, but it took me, us, by surprise. What happened shouldn't have been any surprise at all, but Nick's attitude towards us was a blow. That was totally unexpected and really hurt. He has never been interested in us, even from before he ran away. That, I had come to terms with, and expected his attitude to be that of not caring. Perhaps he is just uncaring towards us, although I expect that to me, his ex, but not for our daughters. It was like he couldn't give a damn about his own. He only paid them attention whilst outside with the two of you around. Once inside he just ignored them, and only paid me any heed because he had to talk about the real reason for his visit."

Linda had sat beside Kim who was beside Sophia, and pressed herself against them, holding a hand of each. Sal stayed on the other side of John with her head resting on his shoulder getting as close as she could to him. Tears were still slowly falling from their eyes.

Sally softly spoke, "Mum, we have each other. He was gone for so many years that he really has nothing in our hearts for him. Today just showed us we have been much better off without him."

Kim added, "Yes mum. You have always had us and we love you totally."

Sophia almost burst into tears but managed to control herself to continue talking to the patient but curious audience, "Thank you dears. To make matters even better we have had these wonderful couple from next door in our lives. They have more than made up for any errant partner or father figure. Thank you John and Linda for being here for us."

John made noises of agreement and how it is his pleasure to be there for them, while Linda let more tears fall as Sophia sighed then continued, "It seems he really has been keeping track of his first family and their birthdays. Shame he didn't do or say more about it over the years. Anyway, his latest little doxy wants a house and he needs the money to get one. My house is to be sold. Now that Kim and Sal are legally adults he has no obligation to house or feed them. He even refused to help with any more schooling costs. As far as he is concerned we are surplus baggage to be dumped."

Both John and Linda tightened their hold on the three women as this latest news had a marked emotional effect. John was at a total loss as to what he could say or do, everything that went through his head sounded lame even to him. He chose to remain silent and just show physical support, which seemed to be enough for the time being. Linda, on the other hand, maintained an ongoing commentary of supportive comments and thoughts.

Sophia continued, "I was getting mad by this time. It wasn't so much the selling of the house as I expected that to happen eventually anyway. It was his attitude that the reason he needed the money was all my fault. It was as though I had forced him to leave our marriage and family. Then little miss fake tits added her bit and that really got my temper hot. She said that if I hadn't forced Nick to have children then I wouldn't then have to force him to keep this house so I could sit around all day living off his generosity. This took me a minute to digest and I then may have said a few things I shouldn't have. I got a little mad, after all it was Nick who wanted a family before I did. He never shut up about me getting pregnant and having kids in the early days of our marriage. Oops, sorry Kim, Sal that came out wrong. I did want a family but held off until I was ready."

Kim said, "That's okay mum, we know what you mean. We love you."

Sally added, "We sure do mum."

"Thanks kids. Anyway, I mouthed off a bit and they left rather quickly after that."

Sally lifted her head from John's shoulder, smiled brightly and spoke up, "Mum you sure did mouth off. You were totally great. You really sicked it to them."

Kim then said trying to imitate her mother, "My god mister Nick, what gumf have you been feeding this poor young girl. You never had time for your own children in the past, which I remind you, you were so desperate to have. Now you come here with a girl who looks younger than my daughters," adding an aside in her own voice, "Now here is the really good bit," then returning to mimic, "come to think about, is she even old enough drink yet. Girlie, does you mummy know you are out with an old man?"

Sam continued for her sister as the others in the room were chuckling, "They got a little hot and flustered at that one. What's her name was looking like a fish out of water at that as 'he' tried to simmer mum down by telling her not to get so emotional. That got mum's back up even more."

Kim went on with her mimic voice as Sophia got more embarrassed and buried her face into John's shoulder, "How dare you tell me not to get emotional. You turn up here with your floozy poking her silicons all around our house. Then instead of being here to wish YOUR daughters a happy birthday, you come here to kick them out of their home," as another aside, "and here she took a big breath," then the story continued, "I can only guess your other families are too young yet to be able to oust them from their homes. How many is it now Nick, two or three? I lost count after you pissed off with your secretary from here. Thank god she only had one baby before you dumped her.

"Tittianna then made a gasping sound after hearing this information and demanded," as Kim tried a nasally whining voice, "What she talking about Nick? Is this true? You said I was your first after this marriage."

Sally took the tale from here, "'He' tried to ease Tittie's anger as he tried to stop mum from spouting out anything more about him, he said," getting a deeper man type voice, "Now, now sweetheart. Don't listen to this, she's just being a bitch towards me."

Sally and Kim began laughing as Sal tried to finish the tale, "Well, at this time mum began to get really wound up. I won't repeat what she was saying as I would get my mouth washed out with soap, and be grounded 'til I reached retirement age. 'He' quickly said goodbye and rushed a still fuming Titties out the door and left."

Sophia, whilst laughing herself, meekly said, "You could still hear Titties from their car as they turned the corner at the end of the street."

John was quicker than normal to take in the story and its ramifications as he gave the three women a tighter hug, "Oh Sophia, Kim, Sal. I am so sorry you had to go through that. Are you going to be okay? We will help you with the house, you know that, right."

Sophia nodded her head as Linda added, 'Yes, don't worry about it too much. We're here for you all the way."

Looking at her neighbours, friends, and now lovers, Sophia responded, "Thanks. We appreciate it. Just having you here for us makes it all so much easier to handle. There were some other things said, but the most important is that Nick had arranged for the house to be listed already with an agent. It is legally in only his name so he could do almost whatever he wanted, I guess even though the courts awarded half of it to me. I don't want to move, but it seems I have no choice. I can't afford to buy out his share of it. He only came over to tell me the 'For Sale' sign is going up tomorrow out front. He even tried to demand I get in professional cleaners and packers as it is only my mess that is in the house," Sophia looked despondent for a minute before saying, "To think I actually loved him at one time."

The others in the room were silent through all of this except for some chuckling in the lighter moments, but Bronwyn led her sister out quietly when she felt it possible. She did give the twins and Sophia a gentle squeeze to their shoulders as she left. They looked to her and Maria in thanks for the support. Janet had gone back to the kitchen to make some tea and coffee giving the five a moment together. She remembered back to the horrid days of her bad marriage, glad it was all behind her, and happy that she had now found true love. Sophia and her daughters were thinking much the same thing about loving John.

They did have a hot drink and managed to relax a bit, then stayed the night. Sophia joined Linda and Janet in bed with John. The twins were unhappy at having to beg off anything more with John that night, but as this morning was their first and he was rather big they were feeling a bit tender. They did, however, cuddle with the others for a while before using a spare room for sleep. Linda, Sophia and Janet were also a bit tender from the last time with John, but experience enabled them to get around little things like tenderness. Janet did tell him that he would need to find some new volunteers tomorrow though, especially as it was a working day anyway.

***

Monday 30th Nov.

Early the next morning Janet and Sophia went to their own homes to prepare for a normal work day. Linda got up to see them off leaving John asleep in bed. Sophia assured Linda that she was okay now, yesterday was just an emotional shock that she has come to terms with. Linda fed Pixie in the back yard then returned to the bedroom to find the twins were sandwiching John in the bed. She smiled as she went to join them but had to quickly divert to the bathroom, where she crouched over the toilet to relieve her morning sickness.

The twins were officially on holidays and determined to be with John as much as possible. Staying the night made this easier for them, not even needing to sneak in the back door like they have done for years on weekend mornings. And today was a Monday, making it even better! Plus, their activities were now so much better as they could wake John up being naked and satisfy their own horny urges at the same time. Being able to ignore Linda's occasional barking noises they did get their satisfaction whilst ensuring John's tingles were held at bay for a bit longer.

After a late breakfast and some more serious cuddling with John, Kim and Sal left to be with friends for the day. Linda and John sat and discussed Sophia's problems for some time as Maria played with Pixie in the back yard. Bronwyn had also returned to work today. Happy giggles and yips could be heard from the pair in the yard. It was Linda who made the final decision on how they could best help their friend and lover.

"John, we can talk about this for days and just go in circles. Neither of us want Sophia, Kim or Sally to move away. They could move in with us but this would fill this house. The only thing that makes sense is that we buy the house ourselves. That way they can stay and we can all be happy. I know we can afford it. If Sophia sees it as charity then we can charge her rent or something."

John looked at his life partner thinking it through, to conclude that he agreed, "Yes dear. You are, as always, right." He then jokingly added, "They can pay the rent as extra treatments."

Linda brightened up immediately, squealed at his approval of her suggestion, and at his idea of extra treatments as payment. Clapping her hands and bobbing up and down in her seat, "Oh you are such a clever man, who would have thought it."

John just shook his head at her antics.

Pixie arrived first to land on top of John driving the air from his lungs, followed by Maria entering the room with a huge smile.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay."

Linda was about to respond but Maria had already left the room. The couple looked at each other and shrugged wondering where that comment had come from. They were not fully aware how quickly Maria was settling into the household. Everyone she came into contact here was friendly towards her, treating her as a normal member of the family. This warm feeling had been lacking from her life until now, and even the odd health problems of John and his even odder treatments could not detract from the love, acceptance and understanding that she received from everyone.

A more or less normal morning went past as Linda saw to some overdue correspondence and concerns about jobs from her work colleagues. John called his lawyer to begin the purchase of the house next door, to be told by Melvin that he was retiring soon. A new solicitor was currently taking over the business and they will need to meet this week. First thing this morning a package had been delivered to the law office from the pharmaceutical company that needed to be discussed this week. They made arrangements to get together on Wednesday at which time the details for the house purchase could also be sorted.

Later that morning John received visitors, Fran and Felicia, for his treatments. It was their day off from work and it seemed totally worked up and ready for John. So Maria did not feel too uncomfortable with John's treatments by more women, Linda took her out for the day on the pretext of shopping for more necessary items.

Left to themselves John and the two nurses made certain he was fully drained before lunch. John then took them out to a local cafe for lunch before lounging around the pool. John thought to himself after their first round in the bedroom that he was right about Fran and how loud she could be if she let herself relax. His ears rang for minutes after they had finished. Felicia kept mumbling to herself how nice it was to be filled. They had just managed a second treatment before Linda and Maria returned home. They had returned outside to the pool as the two shoppers joined them for a swim and rest.

Late in the afternoon Linda received a call from Paula asking to see them that night. Paula did not want to go into any details from work. Linda invited her to dinner that night and stay over if she wished. John agreed with Linda that it seemed odd as Paula knew she could just drop in anytime, but they settled for waiting to satisfy their curiosity.

***

Paula arrived straight from work sitting herself to the kitchen table ordering a juice after John's offer. Bronwyn and Maria were doing something together on the internet in the lounge room, ensuring they were out of the way. This also meant they may have been out of sight, but certainly not out of hearing as they attempted to be discrete whilst eaves dropping.

This left Linda and John at the table with Paula between them, silently sipping drinks as the conversation meandered waiting for the elephant to be brought up. They could tell that Paula was wanting to say something that was on her mind, but seemed unsure how to start.

John looked to Linda, raised his eyebrows and took the lead, "You mention that there was something important to tell us. I don't want to appear rude, but you have our curiosity and our attention. Could you share it? If this is bad news don't let yourself worry too much, I am sure we can handle it, whatever 'it' is."

He stopped there keeping his eyes on Paula trying to maintain a friendly look. It took a minute but she did come out with 'it'.

"It isn't anything devastating, but it is important to me, and I think to us. I certainly didn't want to say anything at the office as this is personal. I didn't want other ears and tongues flapping. I am in the middle of the new project group at the moment and they are for the most part new faces to me."

A quick glance to Linda then John, a deep breath and a sigh, gave her a moment to gather her courage to continue, "As you know I need to move out of the annex at home to allow Bianca to move in. My period of cheap rent is over. I have been looking for somewhere to live but so far nothing has been suitable for me. There was one major thing wrong with every place I saw."

Paula took a deep breath, looked down at her glass as she fiddled with it, "This is hard for me to say in fancy words, so I will just blurt it out."

At this she raised her eyes to look at John, allowing Linda to also see how nervous the younger woman was, "I have become very close to you John, and to you Linda. I love you John and I really hope I haven't got your signals wrong in how you feel about me."

Linda had her eyebrows high on her forehead, not out of surprise at the words, but at how scared Paula seemed. She seemed worried that they would disagree or mayber throw her out of the house. Linda reached a hand out to take hold of Paula's forearm to let her know she supported her, then noticed John had done the same thing on the other side. He was about to say something when Paula continued.

"I will just get to the point of what I am here for," and she took another deep breath looking to search the ceiling for strength, "I want to move in here, live here."

When nothing was said for a moment she got a little nervous and moved her arms to take hold of a hand of each of the other two, "I am asking to live here with the two of you, together. In the house with you. I could take a spare room or something, not like in the same room. Oh shit I am messing this up."

Her blush took root making her a total beacon of red. John thought it the cutest thing he had ever seen. He was actually wordless, which was quite common for him to be when emotional stuff hit him without warning. He did the only thing he could do, and did it without any thought whatsoever, John leaned forward put an arm around Paula and kissed her. He got a little taste of salty tears that had begun falling from her eyes.

Linda got her brain into gear to say, "Paula, sweetie, of course you can live here. That would be a wonderful idea. I think John is saying yes as well," giggling to herself as her fantasies were coming true of having all John's lovers here with them, "I will assume you will want a room for yourself. Don't get me wrong, I want you to have time with John, but you will still need some space of your own. If only to store your clothes. We have the spare rooms upstairs, pick whichever suits you. It is only a shared bathroom."

John pulled back from the kiss to see his young lover looking dreamy eyed at him, "Yes dear, you are more than welcome to live here."

She then produced the largest smile possible and the tears really rolled down the cheeks as she hugged John and then turned to hug Linda, "Oh thank you thank you thank you. I was so scared you would say no, but I had to ask. It is all I have been wanting."

Sitting back into her chair to pause for another deep breath and settle her self, she reached out to each of them and took a tight grip of a hand each, "Thank you, oh I said that already. You're right Linda, I meant a separate bedroom for myself. I just need to be closer to John, I need to see him, to be with him more.

"I won't be a burden as I'll pay rent, help with expenses and such like. Just let me know," and seeing the look on John's face, "No. I will pay rent and costs. No charity. We are not married and I work and can pay my own way. I was prepared to rent my own place, but that is only if you guys had said no."