Little Cherine Book 01 - BPost008

arthur.grafo4 (60)in #sfandf-fiction • 6 years ago

^{The feelings of Dommi were pure love, lust and joy, of feeling that she belongs, is one with me. I was certain I could not ever love her more than I did at that moment, that is until Cherine ricocheted it a number of times. My mind, that cold logical part of me wondered at this, what did she think she was doing, making Dommi and my love for her grow so impossibly strong; doesn’t she have an ounce of jealousy in her?}

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I can honestly say it frightened me that she can be so selfless. That voice was soon drowned out as I became a pure force of love and a whole new world came alive within me. I learnt that the voice was wrong, blinded by prejudices that no longer apply. My love for Cherine and hers for me, it is the parent of our love for Dommi, it has to nurture and feed it, care for and tend it. What a new world to be living in.

Dommi had collapsed on me under the onslaught of her feelings. Amid her sobbing she jerkily spoke. “Roberto, my love, my love, god I nearly left. I did not know. It’s too much, it hurts.” Cherine would never indulge herself at our cost so I knew her pain is a thing of beauty, she would kill me if I tried to stop it. I knew, for I have felt the same way, but then, I have known such excruciating love for our Cherine.

Cherine gauged it to the second, slowly allowing a soft but sexy warmth to envelope us so that Dommi was sliding her body all over me, arousing me too fast. At the same time I sensed a difference in Cherine’s sending.

“Cherine?”

“Later love.”

Freed to exalt in Dommi and our passion, my fingers pinched into her flesh, my teeth biting her lips, her breasts. I was used to taking the top position, but she fiercely refused me. Her long nails were scratching, digging in and our lust was a fire that could not be slated except by even fiercer and frenzied actions. As fiery as my needs were, as wild and crazed as I was by lust, something was missing. I needed Cherine to be part of this from within my mind and heart. I looked to her and she just stared at me, her eyes huge, smouldering and shook her head in refusal.

Dommi was shooting up into a gigantic orgasm and that burned everything out of my mind as my own explosion gathered in a knot and blew up in synchronisation with her spasm of ecstasy. I pulled her down and suckled on her nipples, tenderly, firmly, in adoration. Once my hands were at rest and she lay in a stupor on me, I pulled her face up to mine to taste her mouth and smell her sweet breath. It is the most luxurious after-sex part of loving for me, something I treasure and react to without understanding.

As we slid into a lethargic contentment I had a stab of guilt. I turned to Cherine. She was sitting up, still in her nightie I saw, her legs crossed under her.

“You okay love?”

“ ’Course! Sleep now. I will wake you both when it is time.”

“There is a ‘time’?” I teased.

“You did not know?” She stuck her tongue out at me, then leant over and kissed me tenderly, a chaste kiss of love.

“If we carry on like this every night I’ll soon be old and withered.” I teased.

“I’m going to keep you young forever!” Her fierceness was a shock. I could not answer, I just stared. This was not a normal lover speaking in a passion, this was Cherine, so I could not entirely discount her promise, but neither could I allow myself to believe.

“Is that a promise?” Dommi spoke up, a certain wistfulness in her voice.

“Don’t you go inciting her.” As I spoke, the two of them were looking at each other and Cherine nodded. Out of fear, I got angry.

“You are not a god! Don’t start thinking you can do anything you want. I don’t know the full extent of your abilities, but they do not include physical er...whatever you call it, abilities. Don’t set yourself up for disappointments love. To tell you the truth, I would be quite happy to just live a normal time, growing old with my two loves beside me. For as long as you both love me, that is all I need. Ever.”

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Cherine was not appeased, for some reason she just looked at me, her lips pouting, a sulky look in her smoky eyes. Dommi, as she is wont to do when we discuss the gift, remained silent, but her eyes were burning with questions into Cherine’s. I decided, you opened the can of worms, whether it makes you unhappy or not, you have to face it and tell them now.

“I have had an extraordinary amount of luck. Far beyond what I deserve. But this threesome will not continue forever. One day as you go through puberty Cherine, you will start to find young men of your age fascinating. You will find you want one of them as your lover, or even husband, father of your children. Maybe even Dommi will. I want,” I held up my hand to silence them, “no, let me finish. I know you both feel you could never do that, stop loving me as you do now. But you will. As I was saying, I want you both to know I will welcome whomever you love. So, please do not be afraid to love.”

“You are a ninny sometimes Robert. You piss me off when you act so goody-goody. What you said could never happen.”

“Cherine, it can. Look, you know the true depth of my feelings, my adoration for you. And yet I was able to love Dommi. Aren’t we the richer for having her with us? Part of us?”

“I told you, you are a ninny! It just cannot happen…”

I interrupted her. “Cherine baby, I’m not suggesting you’ll go looking for someone. It is just that the world out there has a number of beautiful wonderful men and you will find yourself attracted to one of them. All I want is that you don’t feel that because of your love for me you reject them, him, I mean. As long he is as you think he is, he can only enrichen us by his presence, his love for you.”

“Stop it! Just shut up and listen to me!!” She was so angry that tears were in her eyes. Still I was offended at her tone, her language.

Dominique pulled my face to her. “You are being a bit of a pain my love. Do give her a chance to talk, then you maybe can stop having to be noble. Maybe then you can relax and truly enjoy having your own harem, forever.” She smiled and her eyes were tender with a knowing look, so I nodded and turned back to Cherine.

“I’m sorry Robert. I didn’t mean to shout. Yes I picked up your feeling. I promise never to do that again…well, I promise to try. Can I explain now?” I nodded. “The only reason you were able to love Dominique was because you loved her before you met me. It sounds very ego…egost..tical but it is not Dominique. Once we became one it also became impossible to love another. I’ll explain just now. Robert, when you met me, your heart was full of Dominique. I was only a child and I thought as you started to love me you would forget her. But then I found that I was not thinking right. If I did not have my gift, as you call it, yes I would have been right to want that. But as I am, when I fell in love with you, I fell in love with all of you. Part of you was Dominique. I did not have a choice Robert. You could say you manipulated me.” She smiled at me. “That is not true. Can you understand that the love you had for her became a part of me also? I have since then grown to love her with all my heart, but that does not change why I started to love her. She was you, a part of all I loved in you.”

She leaned back, her arms splayed out behind her, looking tired. “Now it is too late. Yes, maybe I, or Dominique could find a man attractive, or interesting. But we can never ever love him. He will not be a part of the ‘us’ that already exists. We are sealed in, a package, a...”

“…a gestalt.”

“I don’t know what that means. Anyway, we could only love anyone else if all three of us fell in love at the same time or for the same reason. That cannot happen.”

“It can Cherine.” We both looked at Dominique. We were both amazed she had intervened and kept silent, waiting for her to explain. She looked smug. “See, even I can catch you out. You are forgetting something very important. We will love more people and they will be the heart of our circle. Cherine, if Robert is normal, surely one of us, or both, will have at least one child?” She give a leer, “I will be surprised if I don’t end up pregnant soon. How long do you think it will take you, once you are menstruating?”

“I had forgotten.” She jumped up on the mattress, excited. “Oh yes, Dominique, you must have our baby, soon as possible.”

“I want to, oh yes I do!” she sounded surprised by herself.

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“You are still taking the pill?” I asked.

“Yes. But I’ll stop. Oh Robert!” she sounded so happy.

“No you will not stop. Please Dommi, please? Not now. Please let me explain.” Deflated the girls looked at me, hurt at my not wanting a child of theirs.

“Both of you, stop a moment to think. Think of what has happened just within the last few weeks. We are still learning, we are still melding, our union still in the process, still making mistakes. We, no, I, will still make more, and we cannot have a child suffer through even one such episode. Can you both see that?” I was almost begging. “If you two had noticed, you would have seen that while you had been so excited about having my baby, I really got a hard on at just the idea of you wanting it. Sorry Cherine, you missed out. I do want a baby or many babies. Think girls, I will probably be the only man in the whole of history who knows for sure that the child is his. But not now, my loves.”

“He is right Dominique. We could kill the baby. I’m sorry I got you excited. Robert, how will we know we are ready?”

“There are no guarantees we can wait for. Let’s just be reasonably sure. We have to take chances, but not yet, it would be criminally stupid right now. I have an idea. Dommi, why don’t you wait for Cherine, then you can both maybe have them at the same time.”

They both kissed me and then each other, so excited at the idea I was instantly hard again. Cherine whipped her nightie off and jumped, grabbing me. “It’s mine.”

“Fair is fair” I grinned, “but I cannot reach her Dommi. She really must grow taller. So why don’t you come sit up here, help keep this part up here busy.” She quickly moved to me.

When it was over and she lay next to me, for some reason I was in a playful mood. I turned to Cherine. “You have been a very naughty girl. You’ve been sitting down on your job, and I...”

“I wasn’t sitting on my job, she was!” I pretended not to notice her joke.

“I have to punish you so that you learn how to concentrate on your homework properly next time, instead of getting distracted.” I gathered her in my arms, a suddenly squealing bundle of energy. I managed to lay her across my lap.

I gave her bum a slap, softly, barely enough to make her cheeks smart a little. As she wriggled and pretended to fight to escape, I gave her a second smack, even lighter now and the third one. I then picked her up in the air and brought her to my lips. She was still playing at trying to get away and as she squirmed, by mistake her foot, the heel, kicked me on my throat, my Adam’s apple. I spun her around onto the bed so as not to drop her and lay down in agony, trying to breathe.

Both girls were instantly over me, Dommi also sharing my pain and panic for a breath. Seeing their faces, I forced myself to calm down, relax. I keep forgetting they share everything with me. I could even feel the pain in her heel.

As my ragged breathing subsided and I could speak again, I turned to the little body I adore and hugged her to me. “Guess you got your revenge for my pretend smacks. I don’t know how you manage it, but you never let me get away with anything.” My play-acting stopped. I lifted her teary eyes to mine, that I am sure were wide with amazement.

“Cherry-baby, I felt that. I felt it.” My elation was real. I explained to Dominique. “Last time she hurt herself, in Athens, I knew something bad had happened and I knew where to run to find her. But I had to examine her to know where she was hurt. When she kicked me just now, her heel also hit my collar bone. It hurt her and I could feel it. I could feel it Cherine!”

“That is not all you did Robert. You helped to make the pain less, even while you were suffering. I can’t do that!”

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We discussed it and marvelled at how rapidly changes are appearing in me. I think I was even more amazed than Dommi, but only half as delighted as Cherine was. I hugged Cherine, feeling both delighted and shaken.

“You are the catalyst, you are making me blossom, you are opening me up like a tin of sardines! Thank you my darling witch.”

“Robert, why do I keep hurting you by mistake?” She was concerned.

“You really want to talk right now!” I grabbed at her lasciviously and she giggled again, distracted by my emoting and once more, at least for the moment, was a child playing. Our playing was drenched in erotic undertones and it was not long before we were avidly trying to raise the other’s passions to new heights.

Gradually, almost unnoticed, I was experiencing, in addition to the sensations she was emoting to us, the actual feel of my lips on her skin, the feel of my tongue. Every tactile sensation she felt, I felt. It was weird, feeling her, tasting her and directly feeling the reactions of her nerve-endings within me. It was as if I had labia between my legs, a clitoris - the body of a woman. It was confusing me. I was losing my co-ordination. She pulled away, worried, not able to interpret what she was sensing from me.

I answered her unspoken question. “Stop fretting, I’m okay.” I then explained my problem. When I told them about the labia being between my legs, the clitoris and so on, Dommi turned her back to me. We both felt her fear, her loneliness of not being a real part of us. I pulled her resisting body into my arms and Cherine wrapped her little arms and legs around her. Silently we held her. There was nothing we could offer or promise her. We just had to be there, hold her, let her feel our love and caring.

“I’m being a spoilt brat, aren’t I?”

I kissed her red lips. “As long as you are our brat.” Cherine seconded that with a warm but wet kiss. Dommi laughed.

“You two are enough to drive anyone crazy. I really don’t understand why you both love me so much.”

I tried to lighten the mood. “Hey Cherry baby, she’s fishing for compliments. What do you reckon we should do?”

“Please, I’m serious. The both of you are so special and I’m just a normal girl. I can’t add anything to your love, I can only take. I can only have what you offer me.”

“Isn’t that all what we each have? Only what our loved ones offer us. You cannot take love Dommi. You can only accept what is offered. As for why we love you so much? Since when does love need a reason? Not that we both don’t have enough reasons to fill a book.”

I stared at her, worried, and added. “Last time I lost your love, it was because you were insecure. Then you could not actually feel my love for you, so I can try to be understanding. But now you feel it. You know as deeply as it is possible to know, deeper than any other human being ever has, how much we love you. You also know we need you, not just as our anchor, but for the possibility of knowing that wonderful love you stir in our hearts.

Please baby, don’t do this to yourself and to us, don’t look for reasons for our love. Just take it with both your hands and love us in return. To lose you, ever, would be a terrible wound, we could not bear it again.” I nodded at her silent question, “Yes, she felt my pain and it was hers too. I have a suspicion she felt it more strongly than I did because she thought you were dead, that I was mourning a loved one. She linked that to her pain for her father. Remember her shock the first time she saw you at Kolonaki?”

“Cherine I’m so sorry, I never realised I’d made you suffer also. You never showed me I’d hurt you.” I could have told her Cherine does not know what she is talking about, but I let it alone. My little girl has such a huge heart full of love, so open and generous that it would never have occurred to her that there is a need for any sorrow or regret at having caused her such a pain. And I could see I was right, for she was sending me her puzzlement.

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I got curious and pulled back, away from them both. “Dommi, I am still feeling her, the way you feel to her as she hugs you. This is very disorientating. What happens if she is walking up the stairs, for instance, and I am going down? Will I manage it or will I fall? Will I feel her when she brushes her teeth, goes to the toilet? This is terrible, she will have absolutely no privacy!”

Cherine jumped up, her childish glee evident. “I want to find out.” She dashed off to the bathroom. I felt her sit on the cold seat and I felt all the sensations as she urinated. I was devastated. What happens now to all my theories about maintaining a certain amount of privacy for the sake of romance? At least I had been able to control my own bladder.

She came bouncing back in, her face flushed. “You felt me! It was so exciting to know you could feel me wee too.” She lay on her back, opening her legs for me. “Look, I did not dry it so that you can see it wet with my wee.”

“Cherine!” Dominique cried, despite herself shocked.

“She is being a child Dommi, a naughty, but very cute child. I would love to take a closer look.”

I sensed her deep, shuddering need to have me enter her body as she brought her finger to the entrance. As I pulled her hand away, I fought to keep control of myself, threatened mostly by the tsunami of her emoting.

“Cherine, I’ve told you before, you must wait. Do you know what a hymen is? I thought so. Your vagina is not only too small for me, you also have a thin piece of skin in there, like a curtain, closing off the hole. While a girl still has that curtain, she is called a virgin. When a man puts his penis inside and pushes through, that curtain tears and she is not a virgin anymore. That curtain belongs to me, you hear? The first time I come into you I am going to be the one to tear it. You are my virgin. You go sticking your finger or anything else in there and you will have stolen my hymen. Do you agree it is mine?”

Her eyes were wide, not really understanding what is driving me, even though she could sense me. “If you want it.”

“More than you can imagine. Now stop talking, I’m ready to lose control thanks to all your naughtiness.”

I pulled her/me to me, still enchanted by the sight of her, awed by her perfection. As she flooded me with her feelings, I was soon lost to our pleasures and the growing tactile confusion from the new gift began to heighten my passion beyond my normal threshold. She built even on that, sending it back to me and I felt Dommi in there. This brought me over the edge. I threw myself over Cherine’s/my body and she/I was flooded by a series of spasms knotting up her/my insides.

At last all three of us were totally drained. All I had left to enjoy were soft tender milky kisses from both of them before we slept intertwined in each others arms, feeling also ‘him’ holding me.

Over the next few days, we tried to spend the daytime hours with Marian and Alki, though we did take a couple of walks over the hilly island, just so as to have some time on our own. At night we made love and I should have been happy. The truth is, there was a tiny ache in me, for I could not become inspired to continue with the Kaleidoscope paintings. The memory of the sequence was fading and I grieved for them.

When Christmas Eve arrived, I was keener to spend it at home, sitting around the fireplace, feeling like a family. Alki thought we would want to be on our own, which was not the case, so he invited Marian out for a supper at one of the hotels. Alki suggested that if we feel like it, we should join them after midnight for some dessert, crackers and dancing. It sounded good to the girls, so I half promised we’ll join them.

Instead of eggnog, Dommi prepared some Kahlua with fresh cream (she must have arranged for it to be delivered from the mainland, since there is no cream on the island), then, with a grin, she pulled out some games. I saw she had brought a game which she was good at and which I always used to lose; it is a memory game, meant to help improve the memory of children and I sucked at it. She told Cherine about my being hopeless at it and when we started playing, the two of them laughed at me as I lost points. Suddenly it dawned on Dommi that she is not going to win, that Cherine will. As a teenager, if she lost, she would become obsessive about having another go so as to win, so I watched, wanting to see if she has changed. When she kissed Cherine and gave her a hug for winning, I couldn’t keep my mouth closed.

“Are you certain you don’t want another game so as to prove you are the best at it?”

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She grinned. “If you had won, yes, I would.” I was amused by a thought I had, so Cherine did not get upset with me and even grinned. I thought, the way she is making Cherine love her so much, I’m glad she is not a man. I sensed Cherine is going to play dirty and tell Dommi of my thought - whatever she picked up of it. I wonder what it is about me that makes it happen this way - the only way I can amuse them is by making myself the butt of their amusement.

I went to make a coffee and returned to find Cherine listening to Dommi as she told her about past Christmases. Mainly the ones she enjoyed, so Dommi claimed, were those Dommi experienced as a child when she was in London and I was staying with them, because her parents would make an extra effort for my sake.

“Robert,” Cherine pleaded, “Dominique told me that you used to tell her stories on Christmas Eve. Please tell us one.”

Dommi grinned. “Tell her the one you made up about the alien Santa.” Cherine immediately backed her, so I gave in.

“You’re going to find the story silly - or too childish, but here goes. At that time I loved reading science fiction, as I still do, and Dommi hated it. I wanted her to understand that science fiction can be fun, so I made up a story about an alien Santa.”

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, an alien arrived by Earth. He had travelled like a zillion miles to escape from pirates who wanted to steal his spaceship and he was weary of being afraid, so he buried himself and his ship inside a mountain of ice and snow, spit on the theoretical pole of the North Pole.
The reason the pirates were so keen to steal his ship was not because of the ship itself, I mean, it was a nice ship, built with an artists appreciation of the forces of gravity, so that it could reach deep into the gravity well of suns for boosting its speed without wasting energy, and with a few extra comforts to suit its owner, but the real reason was because it was one of a very few, at that time, which had an imaginary teleportation booth installed. The ship also had something we would call a computer, maybe an intelligent one, being also of the latest model, known as Elf 3000. Of course, it too was an imaginary computer - after all, imaginary tools are all the rage and spaceships are expensive to make and run, so they must be built to the smallest size possible, though they can expand to a decent imaginary mansion size once they are comfortably planted on a planet.
Planting a spaceship in the middle of tons of ice is a clever thing to do, for ice is boring and once you’ve seen it enough times, you’ve seen what there is to see and your mind demands you go in search of variety. The Elf had mapped the planet on their way in, noted all the languages and differing stages of technology. The alien asked Elf where it thought he should visit and he was told that a city called London happens to be one of the most advanced at this time, with technology developing fast - they even had rudimentary steam technology.
Elf was asked why this country was advanced in steam technology and not some other country which needs it more. Elf said that in his opinion it all goes back to the days when the country was run by a people with a mania for cleanliness and they built baths all over the country. When they departed, returning to the warmer climes they were more suited to, the locals found themselves owners of all these baths and being commercially minded (how that came about is another story, but it is believed they grew to appreciate the value of money from their love of betting on sick looking, undernourished dogs), the baths survived for hundreds of years. The owners could not find a solution to the steaming up of the baths, which left a musty smell their bathers did not approve of, and rewards were offered and those who considered themselves capable of thinking clever thoughts, studied and studied steam, until they found a use for it.

The people of the planet of the alien love the colour red. After all, it is the colour of life, they would argue, as most of the vegetation of their planet is of this or that shade of red. The alien put on a nice red suit, chose a wide black belt so as to clip his teleportation booth controls on it and was teleported to London. It should be noted that because the people of London are not familiar with imaginary tools, none could see the controls clipped to his belt.
London was a smoggy, dirty city at that time, filled with uneducated people who never bathed and had no respect for anyone who did not look like a toff or a man of wealth. Finding themselves with a large, corpulent man with snow white hair and beard, red cheeks as large as a tart’s breasts and a strange suit of red suddenly amongst them, they did not know how they should treat him, so, to be safe, they remained respectful while searching his pockets whenever they could work their way to be close enough to touch him.
Their attempt to behave in a courteous manner was swiftly evaporating when none found anything worth stealing in his pockets and one belligerent drunkard demanded, “Hey, gov, who are you?”

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Being polite, our alien answered, giving his name in full. “Santahhhhhhhclaus-hhhhh.” Since his ‘h’s ‘ were silent, the drunkard shouted, “Well then mister uppity Santa Claus, sod off! Ye’r not welcome here.”

Cherine gave Dommi a questioning glance, saw her faintly puzzled expression and asked me, “Does this story go anywhere?” Dommi laughed so hard she felt she might wet herself and rushed off to the bathroom. I grabbed the opportunity to make two coffees and a Milo for Cherine.

As I took my place on the carpet, Cherine asked Dommi, “Is this the story he told you?”

“I recognise bits of it - I think he is embroidering, making it last much longer.”

Cherine asked me, “Are you going to do a lot more embroidering? Remember, we have to open our presents when it is midnight.” Dommi obviously thought she is hilarious, truth is, even I grinned.

“If you want a story from me, you let me tell it my way.”

She nodded. “Okay, but just remember, this is my Christmas present to you for the next five years.” Dommi ended up spilling coffee over herself so we had to wait for her to change. Cherine sat through the wait with a big grin on her face. I bet she was amazed at how well she was doing as our comedian.

Our alien tactfully accepted the boorish version of his name and so he became known as Santa Claus. He often wandered the streets of London and wherever he found people working, he would ask to work. Those without humour got rid of him quickly, but some, for a laugh, asked what a gentleman like him expected to be paid. In earnest he replied, “The work shall be payment enough, with so many years to wait, I must have something to do to escape madness.” This was when the Union lads got angry and told him to sod off, as there is only work for Union members and they do not allow aliens who want to work for lower wages to steal jobs from their members.
And Santa Claus came to a park and the green was something strange and ugly, and because it was and he was feeling sad, he walked through it and found a table at an establishment where most of the customers were women and children. He sat, with no intentions or needs, apart from the worm of curiosity that wiggles only in minds that are aware of life which is not their own, which is a reason why it is so wrong to claim animals cannot reason.
To the children who quietly played under the watchful eyes of their mothers, Santa Claus was a sight rare to their drab world, and his fat round body, chubby cheeks and long white beard drew them so that they circled around him, staring with questions in their eyes, but not daring to ask.
A woman, not a mother, just a nanny who loved her job, sat at his table and she told him, “The man who can bring pleasure and joy to the hearts of children is truly blessed.”
“But I have done nothing to earn such a blessing.”
“Your existence is the gift, for it is clearly seen by all children that you are kind and pleasant, enjoying their laughter more than their silences and tears. You have come at a good time, for it is Christmas and a time for giving joy to children.”
And so it is that Santa Claus discovered a job he could do without carrying a Union card and for those months when children must face the hard realities of their world, he stays in his ship and returns in memory to visit the images of little faces he brought joy to, eagerly waiting for the return of those few days when mankind welcomes his presence among their children.
I am sorry to tell you that the story has a sad ending, which occurred recently. The technology of Mankind evolved and then computers enabled governments and companies and all kinds of people to keep track of everyone and finally a Union declared that for anyone to be a Santa Claus, they must join the Union and carry a card.
There was a little girl in England who was the last to see him. Cherine, the last time you saw him, was the last time he left his ship and all the other Santa Claus copies now think they are real, because they carry a Union card which says they are.

“What does he do in his ship to help time pass?”

“He just sits there quietly going mad.”

After all the coffees, it was now my turn to go to the guest toilet and I heard them talking as I left the room, so I stopped to listen.

“Was the story he told you nicer?”

“Yes, but I think he made his story weird for you to laugh at him. Cherine love, I know he worries that you have cried too many times for him.”

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Cherine was silent for a while and I felt it is a pity she can sense me waiting for her to speak. She on the other hand was controlling her emoting, so I didn’t have a clue as to what she is feeling. “I think you are wrong Dominique, he did not embroider it for me to laugh at him, maybe he wanted me to laugh at the story, but he also wanted to give himself something to laugh at himself?”

“Are you really eight years old?”

I took my time at the toilet, for I could feel how strong the love flowed between them. Just for a moment I thought I saw an image of Santa Claus sitting in his spaceship with his imaginary Elf 3000 companion, slowly going mad, and then it seemed to me that the Santa Claus I saw is me. I love it when my mind plays such tricks on me.

I think it happened because of meeting Cherine. I’ve tended to believe that there is no power watching over me, that nothing happens for a reason and anyone who believes in dreams coming true is, at best, immature, at worst, brain damaged. Then suddenly Cherine enters my life and I not only believe in dreams, I also believe in the magic of those dreams. I wonder how I am meant to survive in this world of ours if I remain as I have become.

I don’t know why, but we did not go out. We stayed by the fireplace, warm and comfortable with each other, until the fire was just ash with a few dim embers and we went to bed. We slept with the three of us holding each other, but there was no need for sex, just for feeling warm and loved.

This has been my best Christmas ever. I do not think I would ever have dared to dream of such a perfect night with both of my loves. I can feel the same mood in both Cherine and Dominique and the mood of all three of us also helped turn Christmas day into a wonderful day for Marian and Alki. Does it explain why Marian kissed my cheek when she wished me a Merry Xmas?

Chapter Sixteen

After Christmas, after such a perfect day, Marian changed, reverting to almost the person she had been before. Dommi and I were very discrete and Cherine spent time with her, but as her mind hardened again, Cherine went to her more reluctantly. Since we had been allowed to enjoy Christmas Eve on our own, as a family, we did not ask for more time on our own and pretended to be looking forward to spending New Years Eve with Alki and Marian.

When Cherine told us that her mother is angry with us again, I guessed that she is only staying and trying to be nice to us because of Alki. I’m certain she finds it difficult to cut off all ties with him, for life is hard and she must keep her options open, just in case she ever needs his help. I was careful not to let Cherine sense my thoughts, for she is still hoping her mother will revert once more to the mother she loves and wants.

We celebrated New Years Eve in Greek style at an island club-taverna. It is not one of those solely built for the tourists, though they rarely open during the winter, and most of the villagers were present. The music continued until the morning hours, alternating between bouzouki, with plates being thrown, and international dance music. After two in the morning they mostly played blues.

Marian got drunk and poor Cherine was embarrassed. Her mother kept talking to strangers about her special baby girl. Luckily most of the Greeks who stopped at our table to greet Alki, were not interested in the drunken babbling of a foreign woman. I suspect they feel that being polite to obnoxious foreigners in the summer is all that should be expected of them.

I cannot believe I was so wrong about her. I had really believed that Marian is the one person we can depend on, in our efforts to protect Cherine. To have her blurting out to everyone her daughter’s secrets, I literally could have happily harmed her in physical ways, just to shut her up! I could sense Cherine did not want me to say or do anything, so I tried to concentrate only on the three people I care about the most. At least Alki was able to contain some of the damage, but I could tell he was getting annoyed with her and only being patient for Cherine’s sake.

99

I am not normally much of a drinker, I hate the feeling of being drunk, of losing control, but with two young ladies to look after, who do not drink, I was not about to drink at all. The truth is, I was also afraid to. A number of scenarios crossed my mind. I lose my ‘gift’. I get tipsy and make Cherine tipsy and she loses control of her gift. My ‘gift’ gets out of hand - and so on. Now that I write of it, it does occur to me that once we are alone, maybe we should try it as an experiment, so that we know what happens.

I’m glad I did not drink, but for a different reason. Cherine admitted later that she was grateful she had the two of us to ‘anchor’ her, but especially me, as she was picking up all the emotions from the people surrounding us and some of them were especially drunk and nasty. The sad comment was that it seemed the nastiest were from the married couples who were pretending to be devoted to each other.

It also seems that most people do not see the start of a new year as a promise or even a possibility of a promise of them correcting their lives; they pretend to, but emotionally they are mentally fixated on their past and the sadness of it having flashed by without achieving any of those things they had hoped for during the previous years.

Alki was our main support. He did drink, mostly watered down whiskey, for his liver he likes to claim. However, drink only brought out the sweetness in him and no stranger would know he has been affected by the drinks. I found it difficult to reconcile his gentleness with his track record of coming from poverty to being one of the hundred richest Greeks - I read it in an article, Alki never discusses his wealth and neither would we even think of asking him. With his acquaintances who came to greet him, I was pleased to see that most of them were just normal villagers, he showed off Cherine, asking her many times throughout the night to repeat for his friends, “tell them what my little English girl calls me” and she would dutifully, and patiently, and with a smile of love, tell them, “pappou Alki”.

Cherine told us her new year resolution is ‘not to hurt Robert again’. I told her she has already broken it - she hurt me with the love I felt for her when she said that. She was not amused and pulled a face, maybe to show me she was not taken in by my glibness. Dominique did not want to say, but when Alki pressed her, she replied, ‘to stop being afraid to love’. My second pain of the evening. I quickly got in, ‘And you Alki?’.

His answer caught me by surprise. “To look after my family.”

“Alki, you’ve been hiding this from me? I didn’t know you had a family.”

“Oh yes I do, I have an English son and daughter and a Greek daughter.”

That was my third pain of the night.

I would not tell them mine for a long time. Finally Cherine started touching herself and emoting to all and sundry her sexual arousal. It certainly began to change the atmosphere of the taverna. I told her she was using unfair tactics, using my fear for her against me and she stopped, though she was chagrined by my adult stuffiness. I had to relent and told them I have not vowed anything new, just reconfirmed to myself something that is always in my heart. I had resolved to always do my best to deserve their love. Cherine felt I was cheating.

Nobody asked Marian as she was already sozzled, but she was determined not to be left out. She volunteered hers. She announced she has resolved to find a way to spend much more time with her Cher. On that dampening note the conversation terminated.

I felt Cherine was aching from sitting on the hard chair and sleepy, but when I suggested we go home, she, as any normal kid would, wanted to stay. I waited half an hour and at 3.30 a.m. asked Alki in Greek to say he is very tired and to ask the girls if we can go home. Neither of the girls would think of saying no to their ‘pappou’ as he has now been officially designated.

Not surprisingly, Marian wanted to stay, so Alki paid, asked that any further drinks she orders be put on a tab for him to pay the next day, and we then left her. As we were about to go, putting on our overcoats, she admonished Cherine, in a voice too loud, “You go to sleep in our bedroom, you hear?”

100

Cherine was overtired and left the club crying. Once we were outside I picked her up, holding her tightly. Trying to jolly her out of her misery, I told her not to worry, her mother will only come in the early morning, so she can sleep in my arms for at least a couple of hours, then I will carry her to her mother’s room. When she did not respond, I ended by reminding her there is no danger of being caught by surprise, as she is monitoring her mother.

“I’m not. I hate doing it. It’s horrible.” Her comment was not immediately clear to all, but, from past experience, I understood.

“Is it a hard mind?”

“Yes.” She buried her head in my shoulder.

Alki asked, “What is it Roberto?”

“She needs to sleep in my arms, at least for a couple of hours. I must also be asleep for it to be of full benefit to her - and me. Usually she is able to ‘watch’ her mother and to have enough warning if she is about to catch us together. Tonight she is overtired and her mother’s mind is not a nice place to be. I don’t know what to do.”

“You take her to sleep. Just sleep, you hear me. Leave the matter to me.”

“What will you do?”

“Very simple. She has the key and remote, but the door has a very strong chain.” He winked at me. “Until the poor old man shuffles his way downstairs to open, she will be safely in her bed, like every morning, nai?”

“Nai. Thank you.”

We undressed Cherine on the bed, put her little pyjamas in a handy place and undressing, we lay to either side of her, holding her and each other as we slept. I could sense how the warmth of our bodies was a comfort to Cherine, while our size helped her feel safe. Alki did not wake us till after ten.

Marian has not returned.

Sitting on the verandah, because of the sun coming out, we all shared a few moments over coffee and toast, except Cherine who had her cereal and egg. She resented it, but I was adamant - and she obeyed because she enjoys feeling me being a ‘daddy’. I was enjoying my breakfast, for Alki had found out I love honey in its honeycomb and had managed to get a supply. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I was also tasting the cereal and egg. Out of necessity I am slowly getting the hang of it, of putting her in a separate compartment with her own signature.

I discussed this new development with Alki. He was very interested and asked a number of questions, but when I gave him his present, all wrapped up, he forgot everything else as he stared at the picture. We then had to tell him all about it, about the sequels I am already trying to work on. When I told him about Dominique’s comment, her recognising it as Cherine’s soul, his face glowed in recognition and he tried to return it to me, but we could feel how much he wanted to keep it.

“Alki, it is not mine to give, so I cannot take it back. Cherine wanted you to have it as a gift from her. I did explain to her that it is a part of a series, so you will use it for the business. She does not mind, she’s just happy to know you own the original. I need you to arrange something for me though. I want all payments on the first and all the rest of the series, except this one, to be made to a Trust. Can you arrange such a Trust for us? I want you and Dominique to be the trustees until she is an adult. Her mother must be excluded from having any rights; as a matter of fact, I would prefer she not know about it.”

Cherine was not very interested as she did not understand what a Trust is.

Alki smiled, taking a dig at me even as he spoke of the feelings in his heart. “If you manage to complete the series, you are going to make her a very rich woman. I am honoured that you asked me and very proud of you Robert.” Now her pert little face came alive. This was something she understood.

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I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love.