LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post114

arthur.grafo (69)in #sfandf-fiction • 6 years ago

^{Before I could blink he lashed out and knocked me off my feet. It felt as if he had broken my jaw and I saw stars.

“You do not make jokes of that kind about my wives!!”

Still a little dazed I smiled at the two anxious young faces. “I guess this is Niko’s way of showing you how much he already loves you. As he gets to know you better and has danced with you, I’m not even going to dare sit in the same room with you two.”}

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986

Niko, I could feel, had already regretted his violent reaction. His father had a few angry whispered words with him. I put on an act.

“Niko, it feels as if you knocked one of my teeth loose. If I lose it, I will sue you - in a Cherinian court of course.” He nodded. “You do realise that our court is in the void and that I am the judge.”

As everyone laughed I stretched out my hand for him to help me get up. As he did so, I pulled him to me and gave him a hug. I stepped back with a huge grin.

“You have just married two children within half an hour of them being born, not even waiting for them to be named first. And you dared to make all those jokes about me!!”

“You bastard, you set me up!” I just grinned and grabbing our happy Dommi, gave her a kiss.

“Claire and Elia, how does it feel. From one son and one daughter you now have one son-in-law and fifteen daughter-in-laws. And the story has only just begun!” As they smiled with delight at the thought, Niko gave a groan.

“Oh God!! I just realised that you are now their brother-in-law! I really do not approve of them having anything to do with you.” He put his arms around his wives protectively.

“One thing I can guarantee you Niko. Within one week you will not be able to imagine a life without them.”

“I do not need a week. I can feel already how they have enslaved me.”

“Niko, your wives have not developed their gifts yet. I am sending them my healer until they do. May I make a suggestion, the whole world is brand new to them. Take them somewhere beautiful but not complex. In other words, not some fancy hotel. Something like a beach in the Seychelles would be perfect. They can then concentrate on you and in getting to know how beautiful this world is. Dommi will help them jump to wherever you want to go.” I took his arms off his wives and pulled at him. He left them and came with me. Soon as we were distant enough I asked.

“Can you get your healer to keep you sterile for now? They will want your baby and will pull all kind of tricks on you to succeed. Keep yourself sterile until you decide they are old enough and to make them happy you are willing. It will only be for six months or so, I doubt you’ll last longer, but I think it is important.”

“Robert I am so sorry I hit you. I did not think, I just reacted. Now I realise how offensive I have been.”

“Nonsense, I know your sudden flashes of temper, I expected something like this. Niko, I really do not mind, but I will ask that you allow us to help you. We would have to go into your mind and find what makes you fly off the handle like that and fix it. If your girls like to tease, you could react without thinking. They would forgive you, but I promise you, you would never forgive yourself.”

“Who would do it?”

“Not me. Two or three of the girls. You know they would not spy on your personal memories and thoughts.”

“Let me have my honeymoon and then I promise to do so.”

That night I let it be known I did not want any visitors. I took the girls to Kefalari so that we could sit amidst an anonymous crowd to enjoy the feelings of being back in our own world, the civilisation we are so accustomed to. I found a couple of Irish coffees were just what the doctor ordered. Aganthi tasted one and loved it. I let her have one, but until she has given birth, I insisted there would be no more.

Claudia asked for a Bloody Mary but I vetoed that, ordering a Virgin Mary and teased her. “Just because you’ve acquired a taste for blood does not mean you are old enough to have strong alcoholic drinks.”

Aganthi’s mind was elsewhere. “Our baby will be special then to you Roberto? You will let her sell you many flowers?”

987

“Her mother is a flower of my heart, how could she be any less?”

“I’ve been watching the people, they can see the Albanian in me, even now. They wonder what such beautiful people like all of you are doing with me.”

“We’ll tell them your daddy is a multi-millionaire and he is keeping us in luxury for your sake. We have to love you or he cuts us off without a cent.”

She clapped her hands with delight. “You are making a fairy story for me, I wish I could tell them that!”

Dominique put her slim fingers on my arm, but spoke to Aganthi. I looked at the sophisticated air she has and understood why my Aganthi felt this way. “Would it not be a better fairy story to tell them that one day these people you are with, they saw a lovely but poor flower girl and fell in love with her and brought her into their family and turned her into a princess.”

“No, I like Robert’s story, it is the kind of story they will believe. Your fairy story Dominique, that one must hide in my poor Albanian heart to keep me happy when I feel afraid or sad.”

“Aganthi mou, I love the way you look, your skin, your eyes, that lovely wide mouth which has such an infectious smile. However, if you want to change anything, you just go ahead and do it. I do not think it is necessary for you to lie by making yourself not look Albanian, but you do whatever you need to do to be happy.”

“It does not worry me that they look Roberto, they will never know such a beautiful love, it is them I feel sorry for.”

“Good girl! Months ago I’d have thought tonight we would be partying, but I prefer this. It feels so nice to be together as a family, a weird family, but then that may be what is so special about us. If none of you are planning any more adventures, I’d like to get back to seeing you off to school each day, sitting at my computer and doing my work and waiting for the moment our home will be filled with your girlish voices again. Just a nice normal family.”

“I felt bad about leaving Henry alone at home tonight. What are we going to do about him Robbie, we can’t make him part of us, but we can’t leave him to be alone. He has no family.”

“What are you talking about Meli? He is family, he is my brother. He has agreed to go to school. From now on he will have a body age of ten so that the maturing of his mind matches his body. Somewhere along the line he will meet a girl.”

“Is he going to stay with us?”

“For his sake he should, for our sake he should not. I do not know yet what we will do. What I do know is that he was abandoned as a child. He feels he has a family again. How can we put him through it again by turning him out?”

“I think Socrati would be a good father to him. He has such a down to earth way about him. You remember how he sat there carving for day after day. He brought him out of his shell, I think they would be happy together.”

“If it was to just be a son I would agree. With the dancing that would not be their only relationship. How would Sonja and Socrati feel about it?”

“If he stays with us we have the same problem. Can you feel how fond we all are of him? In the desert he was brave and helped everyone whenever he could. Despite that, we do not love him in the way that would bring him into our circle.”

“We’ve said enough, let it go for a few days. We need to focus only on being close to each other and happy. It is not just Henry we have to worry about. Every time we bring in a male of any age we end up with a problem. This cannot carry on, something must change.”

The girls ordered again and I wondered where they were going to fit it all, but sat back relaxing and enjoying their chatter, even their funny little arguments. As with all children, their eyes were bigger than their tummies and when we left, the table was littered with food and drinks. Dommi pulled a face at me, but I smiled happily. After what we had been through, they needed to have too much, even if it meant it was wasted.

988

As we were searching for taxis (it is difficult to find one) Cherine clapped her hands from joy.

“Robert, Henry has to go to Themi and your mother. That way she can finish bringing up her son. You said he is your brother. Robert, it will also help Themi. But I must tell you, he will say no.”

“Who, Henry?”

“No, Themi. We must find a way to make Themi want him. It is a feeling.” she added.

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