Love in the Time of Curiosity Ch. 03

'Take this, find a hotel or something, keep them up.'

I took the money with hesitation and shut the door once he'd left. I turned back to Amanda who by now was over her cum.

'Shalom somebody's circumcised, what did he want?'

'He gave us money to find a hotel room; I guess we woke him up.'

Amanda gave an embarrassed laugh but we stayed in, keeping quiet for the rest of the night. I gave James the money back in the morning; he didn't remember anything and was just as embarrassed as Amanda was when I told him what he did.

MAY

By this time Billie's bump was getting quite large and more difficult to hide, as a result there were several rumours going around the Uni. On the way to class I would hear them all.

'She's getting fat, it's nothing more.'

'I heard she was knocked up by a dead guy.'

'I heard he was in jail.'

'She doesn't know who the father is; slut fucked three guys in one night.'

I heard every and all rumour, there were quite a few jokes about it being Caleb but I kept quiet. Most people asked once then left when they knew Billie wasn't going to tell anyone, but of course there was some who never let it go, namely the Uni slut Katie -- who was the girl Daniel slept with at his party and caused the big fuss, by now her broken nose, was healed but it still looked strange. It all came to a head around the middle of May when Katie cornered me and Billie by the lockers.

'So Billie, why are you keeping silent about the dad?'

'Because I want to Katie I don't have to yell it out because you say so.'

'Won't tell who fucked you first, won't tell who knocked you up. He must be one ugly bastard for you to keep quiet about him.'

'Just because you tell everyone who you've fucked every other weekday doesn't mean she has to.'

'Fuck off you dyke cunt nobody asked for your opinion.'

'Nobody wanted yours in the first place.'

That shut her up, I was used to arguments growing up with my younger brother and I knew how to end them quickly. However it didn't stop her from going on at Billie.

'Just tell me his name, or do you not even know?'

That obviously hurt Billie. 'I know his name you slut; unlike you I don't have a new guy in my bed every half-hour.'

'At least I'm careful with who I fuck, you fuck one guy and get knocked up I bet daddy's looking down on you and thinking who the fuck is that careless bitch.'

That was the final straw for me, I'm not a typically violent person but bringing up Billie's dead father was too far. I was about to punch Katie in the face but Billie grabbed my arm, she shook her head. Katie saw all this.

'What's this, a new girlfriend Heather, don't let her stop you from doing what you want.'

The moment had passed and I'd calmed down. 'Why the hell are you not letting this go Katie, why can't the father be a secret?'

'Because nobody stays this quiet unless they have something to hide. Just give me a name and I'll be on my way.'

Katie was leaning in on Billie, making her feel small and vulnerable. I wanted so much to punch her but Billie had already said not to and I wasn't going to ignore a friend.

'No, I'm not saying anything?'

'Why not?'

Suddenly it came to me. 'Because he's away on tour.'

Katie was obviously surprised by my outburst, Billie less so but she knew to stay quiet and see where this was going.

'What did you say?'

'I said he's away on tour, he's in a band that passed through here during one of the battle of the bands contest. Him and Billie met up afterwards and it went from there, she only found out he was pregnant after he left to support another band, he won't be back until the end of the year. We didn't say anything because we knew no-one would believe Billie slept with an unknown rock-star.'

It was a weak lie, too many holes but it was just extravagant enough for an idiot like Katie to accept as truth. 'There, that wasn't so hard was it?' She left soon afterwards.

Billie turned to me; she was millimetres from bursting into tears. 'Where the hell did that come from Hezz?'

'I don't know, you wouldn't let me punch her so I had to improvise.'

'You know she's going to tell everyone now.'

'Yeah, but then everyone will stop asking who the father is.'

Billie saw my point and thanked me for helping her. As we thought Katie did spread the rumour and people started asking Billie what band he was in, who he was supporting and if they could get a demo c.d.

People can be really stupid.

SEPTEMBER

On the 6th of September Amanda and I got a call from Caleb, Billie's water had broke and she was in the hospital. We rushed there to be with our friend, when we arrived she had given birth and was asleep, Caleb was also asleep by her bed and there was an older man by the window with a camera, he spotted us.

'Hey, come on in. I'm Richard, I'm seeing the mother of the happy couple.'

I smirked at the comment and shook his hand. 'I'm Heather this is my girlfriend Amanda. We're friends of Billie. I guess you know of the unconventional relationship.'

'Yeah, they told us, that's me and their mother, back in February. She still hasn't got over it which is why I'm here, take photos of the baby.'

Just then Caleb woke up. 'Hey, when did you two get here?'

'A few minutes ago, where's the baby?'

'They're doing some tests shouldn't be too long, it's a boy but we haven't got a name yet.'

Just then, right on cue, the nurse wheeled the baby in. Oddly enough Thomas came in with the nurse.

'I've got to stop running into you two.' Thomas statement was directed at us.

'We swear it's an accident. What are you doing here anyway?'

'My dad was Caleb's therapist, he wants me to check in on them.'

All the commotion had woken up Billie, the first thing she saw was her son so she had a smile on her face. The nurse saw this immediately. 'You want to hold the baby miss.'

'Yes please.' Billie's voice was scarcely a whisper.

The nurse handed the bundle to Billie, I suddenly had a flashback to Mands mums' funeral and baby Rose, I'm pretty sure Amanda saw the same thing but once the boy was in his mother's arms that all disappeared. Tears began to slowly fall down Billie's cheeks and Caleb was soon to follow, he turned to his sister.

'What should we call him?'

'I don't know, you have any ideas?'

'I was thinking about T.J., how he was killed too early. Maybe, maybe Tyler.'

'Tyler Dawltry, I like it.'

Thomas leaned towards me and Amanda and whispered. 'Let's go to the cafe, leave these two to their new family.'

We both agreed and followed him out.

The next few days Billie and Caleb lived at the hospital, they never wanted to leave Tyler for even a second, despite the illegal nature of their relationship the Dawltry's were better than most other couples. I was most surprised by Tyler himself, when Billie announced her pregnancy I feared a mutant freak of a baby but no, he was completely normal. Every time I saw him I had the same surprise, one such time happened a couple of days after the birth, Billie was still bed-bound and Tyler was in a crib, the only other people were me and Amanda as Caleb had gone to get a coffee.

'Billie he's beautiful.'

Amanda spoke next. 'He is, I don't know what surprises me more; the fact that you have a kid or the fact you have your brother's kid.'

'Hezz you told her?'

'I didn't Billie I swear.' I had but I told Amanda not to say anything, thankfully she saved us both

'Relax, I'm taking a major in Psyche class remember. It was all over his body language, the way he held Tyler he had so much love for him it was obvious. Don't worry I won't hold it against you this is clearly something you both planned and wanted.'

'Thanks Mands, now I just have to wait for what comes next.'

'You're not still going to marry him, Billie that's illegal.' I still didn't think a sibling marriage was a good idea.

'And this isn't Hezz. I want to marry my brother and I don't care what you think.'

'Sorry Billie I am happy for you guys but I'm still taking this in.'

I was genuinely happy for Billie but this whole thing had suddenly got very real and still hard to take. Amanda and I went home not long after that conversation, I felt a little dirty from spending so much time at the hospital and went upstairs for a shower.

The shower was a godsend, the hot water was like a cleansing waterfall, I just stood there for several minutes letting the water flow over me. I almost didn't hear Amanda enter the bathroom.

'What you doing Mands?' I turned round and saw she was undressing.

'I seem to remember you doing this for me a few months back and I never returned the favour.' Now naked Amanda got in the shower and started sponging my back. The shivers of erotic heat were too hard to hide, I could feel Mands smirking at my obvious pleasure.

'I take it you like this Hezz.'

'Oh, you bitch Mands.'

There was no point getting washed anymore, the wetness from my pussy was covering my legs. I spun round to face Amanda and kissed her, I could feel Amanda's hands stroke my stomach and get closer to my cunny. When her fingers entered me I let out a small moan, I myself headed straight for her beautiful breasts, kissing them and sucking her nipples in my mouth. With one hand fingering me, Amanda's free hand grabbed my ass and pushed it forward giving her other hand better reach into my cunt, I was practically jumping off her hands, my head bouncing against her breasts. Mands lowered her head and kissed me again, bringing my head back up to normal height, here she made her own move and kissed my own nipples, much gentler than in the car. The fingering getting faster and deeper, the kissing on my own very sensitive breasts and the fact that this was all down to my best friend was too much and I had one of the hardest orgasms of my life, thankfully I was a lot quieter than Amanda. We just stayed there in the shower letting the hot water clean us, truthfully even if the water hadn't been on I would have never wanted to leave Amanda's arms.

DECEMBER

The next few months things went almost back to normal, of course now being a mum we saw less of Billie around Uni but the times she was around almost everybody congratulated her. Around the middle of October Billie asked me to be Godmother to her son, I was surprised giving my being a lesbian but Billie didn't care about that so I accepted.

The snow came thick and heavy at the beginning of December, for a week straight there was a damn blizzard, lost a couple of days of Uni when it got too bad but once the worst was over the resulting cover of snow looked beautiful in the right light.

But even with the gorgeous scenery I couldn't feel happy, at the start of the Christmas holidays Amanda was going to visit an aunt and uncle over in America and would be gone for over a week. It sucked horribly because I had grown to truly love Amanda and I missed her when we weren't together; I know I said I've always been in love with Mands but since we got together it's gotten stronger.

Because the flight was going to take about seven and a half hours to get to Chicago Amanda had to wake up pretty early in order to catch her flight, she had planned to do it quietly and leave without waking me up but Mands being Mands she failed. I woke up around 4:45 am.

'Sorry Hezz, I didn't mean to wake you.'

'Fine Mands, you ain't use to being quiet.'

There was no point in going back to sleep so I got up.

'What time's your plane at?'

'6, I was just about to phone a taxi.'

'Well if you wait for me to get washed and dressed I'll drive you to the airport, I'd love to give you a proper goodbye.'

'How long will you be?'

'Ten minutes for a shower, five to get dressed.'

Amanda looked at the clock on the wall. 'Alright, but be quick I love you but I do need to catch this plane.'

I jumped in the shower and gave myself the quickest wash I could, followed by the fastest dress possible which wasn't easy given the fact I had to put on so many layers but I was fully dressed and ready before 5. I helped Mands carry her suitcase downstairs and into her car, because Mands had been up longer she drove the car giving me a chance to wake up fully. We talked for the entire short drive to the airport, just casual stuff, what we were going to do, when and where we were going to meet back up, both of us ignoring the giant pink elephant in the back seat of how much we were going to miss each other, I know I was and looking in Amanda's eyes I could see she felt the same.

I dropped Mands off at the airport entrance and we said our goodbyes but before she left I gave her a long but soft kiss -- we also gave some businessman a good start to his morning. Reluctantly I let her go and she left quickly before I could see the tears in her eyes. Once Amanda was inside and out of site I drove away, I considered waiting to watch her plane take off but that would only hurt me more so I went home. I got back just before 6 which meant that Amanda was on her plane and getting ready to go, everyone else in the apartment was still asleep so I decided to take a little walk.

There's a small hill not far from the Uni, it reaches a bench on the top and it looks out onto miles of farmland, normally people only go up there for a picnic but giving the heavy snow no-one had been up there in weeks. I on the other hand loved the snow, especially in the morning because standing on top of that hill and looking out I could see the brown light of the morning sun dance softly across the snowy fields, it all felt like a dream. I sat down on the bench and looked out across the beautiful landscapes, a lone bird flew across horizon and I felt a strange sense of contentment, something I only ever felt when in bed with Amanda. I felt cold tears swell up in my eyes, not just because of the gorgeous scene in front of me but because I couldn't help but be reminded of Mands mum which reminded me of Carol and then Amanda.

When I went to bed that night I felt truly alone, I lay on my side slowly rubbing Amanda's side, it was cold, as though she had been gone for years. I almost didn't hear the knocking on the door.

'It's open.' I yelled through, the time was about ten at night so I expected Rachel or perhaps Billie;

I did not expect to see Mands walk in and stand at the doorway to the bedroom. She had a smile on her face and was wrapped in long brown overcoat.

'Mands, what the hell?'

'The plane was delayed, fresh snow on the runway, after a few hours it was cancelled. I would have called but I wanted to surprise you, on the way home I picked this up.'

Amanda dropped the overcoat, underneath she was wearing only a red, sheer babydoll dress that reached halfway down her thighs and under that only a small matching thong. The middle showed all of her tight, smooth stomach and the red matched the colour of her hair. I felt my jaw drop at the pure sex Mands was exuding, she was cool, she was confident but most importantly she was mine.

Mands walked carefully and precisely over to the bed, she bent forward and crawled towards me, her incredible cleavage staring me in the face and the light bouncing off her uncovered ass-cheeks beamed at me. I could feel -- and no doubt Mands could see -- my panties getting wetter by the second. Still smiling Mands pulled my pants down little by little and left them down by my knees. Mands was what I can only describe as a cunt-smith, she had somehow gotten better at driving me wild. She started by planting kisses on my left thigh, going from my knee to just the side of my pussy, then she repeated the same for my right thigh. She kissed and licked all around my cunny without actually touching it, I was by now soaking wet and ruining the bed sheets although why that was on my mind I have no idea. Mands velvet tongue touched every square inch around my pussy but she never made contact with it and yet I was still hornier then I'd ever been with her and she knew damn well what she was doing to me, I felt her smile between my legs.

Now I've said before that I'm a lot quieter than Mands but what she was doing to me that night I was close to being as loud as she was. I grabbed the nearest pillow and covered my face as I screamed into it, I've never screamed before so the whole incident scared me and to a greater extent Amanda. When I'd finally calmed down Amanda was over me, a look of worry on her face that was only slightly off put by the remnants of my orgasm covering her mouth.

'Jesus Hezz are you alright?'

I smiled at Mands' worry and kissed her, then I grabbed her ass, flipped her onto the bed and returned the favour.

Mands did eventually go to America but it wasn't until March, when the trip came around she had saved enough money to buy me a second ticket to go with her. The trip was good and it's always funny to see people's reactions to hearing we were a couple but it was one of the first times that I thought we really were going to be together forever.

JUNE

In the middle of June Caleb and Billie got married, I don't know how they did it being siblings but they found a priest willing to perform the ceremony and being the maid of honour I had to be there. The whole thing was very small, apart from me, the priest and the couple there was Amanda as a bridesmaid, Richard -- the older man we saw at Tyler's birth, as the best man, their mother, Tyler -- now nearly one, and a couple of guests, a young female and an older male, I didn't know although the man looked really familiar.

Oh, and Billie was six months pregnant with her second child.

Being so close to the birth of Tyler I could only guess her and Caleb got back to bed as soon as they could, it still seemed weird to me but I kept quiet.

After the ceremony everyone went inside for the reception, I took this opportunity to find out where I recognized the male guest from. Walking over to him and the female I introduced myself.

'Hi, I'm Heather, the maid of honour.' I stretched out my hand for a shake.

The man took my offer. 'Hello, I'm Aiden McCormack, this is uh, this is my partner Jane.'

'Jane Gallagher, I'm an old friend of the couple.'

I shook Jane's hand. 'Gallagher? I remember you, you use to go to our Uni but you left to have a kid.'

'Yeah, that's Kathy asleep in the corner. The only memory I have of my first husband.'

'First?'

'Yeah Tyler, he was killed by some jealous bastard called Vincent.'

'Oh shit I heard about that, I'm so sorry.'

'It's fine, because of what happened to Tyler I met Aiden here, we're engaged to marry in the autumn.'

'Congratulations. You said your name is McCormack right?'

The man, Aiden, nodded.

'You any relation to Rachel McCormack?'

'Ah yes, she's my youngest daughter from my first marriage. My wife also died but of cancer instead of murder.'

'Same difference right.' I said rather morbidly. 'Aren't you a priest?'

'Was, quit a couple of years ago to look after my daughters. Glad I did too.'

I spent a couple more hours at the reception before me and Mands left, it was good day and I was glad for Billie. On the way back to the apartment we saw Thomas looking lost in his car, we pulled over to help him.

'Dr Freeman, fancy meeting you outside the hospital.'

Thomas turned round to see us. 'Really, you two again?' He was jokingly bored.

'You lost?'

'Yeah, I'm trying to find the Dawltry house.'

'We were just there why you need to go?'

'My dad was invited but he had an emergency down at the hospital to deal with. He sent me down with the wedding gift.'

I looked at Mands. 'Well I left my phone at the house so if you want I can take the present for you, Mands can take your car back to the apartment for a drink or something.'

'You sure Hezz?'

'Yeah, he's been good to us and deserves some repayment. I'll take the gift.'

Amanda got out the car and into Thomas's, he handed me the gift, got into his car and drove back to the apartment. I turned around and headed back to the Dawltry house. When I got back I saw Richard in the front garden having a cigarette.