WARNING TO NEW READERS TO THE SERIES - This is a long, rambling story and VERY British which has been divided into several parts for ease of editing and reading. The individual parts will make more sense if read in sequence as they follow straight on chronologically and therefore new readers should start reading at NOVELS & NOVELLAS > The Touch> Chapter 1 - Jamie's Story.
Most, but not all chapters contain some sexually explicit sections and the story has a strong incest theme which some readers may find disturbing and might wish to cease reading now...
Thank you to all readers who vote, leave public comments and send feedback, these things are important as it is the only indication of reader approval that an online author gets.
My apologies! This chapter may meander even more than usual as it is part of a collection of several short 'day in the life' journal style entries which have been linked to make up Chapters 38-44
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THE TOUCH Chapter 42 Sisterly Love
As much as I had appreciated the wonderful week that Gwen and I had alone together whilst Emma was in France with Maggie and the twins it was great to have things back to normal on Monday morning even though we faced another disruptive week at home with both Gwen and I away for several days
I had walked up to Maggie's house around 2pm when Gwen had telephoned to say that she had prepared some lunch for us and being a nice warm day we had taken our sandwiches and a bottle of chilled Greek Santorini wine out onto Maggie's patio by the swimming pool and sat side by side on the bench seat our elbows touching enjoying the spring sunshine.
"So how did Miss Thunder-Thighs' party go last night? She asked me, "I hope that you took good care of Auntie Rebecca..."
"Yeah, good..." I mumbled through a mouthful of ham and cheese sandwich. "I think that she may have picked up a couple of more commissions from Caroline's friends, she really is very talented you know. Several people showed an interest in having gardening work done... although most of them live a bit outside of our normal catchment area..."
"Would that present a problem, darling?"
"No, I wouldn't think so... before she started the garden centre Maggie undertook landscaping design contracts all over the country and Uncle Robert even did some designs for properties in France and Ireland, even Australia... the designing is not an issue... it's the logistics of a team having to travel to do the physical work and follow up maintenance that needs to be factored in... that is the only issue that I have with doing the roof garden job for Caroline in London...being a new company we do not want to start sub-contracting work out at the moment, Maggie and I would much rather use our own people who we know and trust."
"So was she pleased with your designs?"
"Oh yes," I replied. "Actually, we spend most of the night going over the plans and redrawing some details to include a couple of new ideas she wanted added in...It got late and I slept in her guest room and came back this morning..."
Thankfully she decided not to tease me about staying over. Gwen would never ask if I had had sex with Caroline, and I had promised never to talk about time I spent with other women, although she must have known or at least suspected that I had a sexually active relationship with Janice Copman at least, and frequently teased me about that. For some reason I had been unable to fathom both Gwen and Emma seemed to accept that I might have some sort of relationship with Janice and were OK with it. It was part of what Gwen and I needed to do to make our relationship work... as long as we didn't talk about it that was OK. It was something that she had insisted on, but something that I still had my reservations about and it only worked one way. She insisted that because of our age difference I should see other 'younger' women. But I knew that I would be totally devastated if she had a relationship with another man. That had been brought home to me with a vengeance a couple of months ago when I made a jealous pillock of myself because Maggie went out on a date, I could not conceive how I would have felt had it been Gwen.
"Gwen, can I ask you something?" I wanted to steer the conversation away from the events of last night. "Do you remember a man called Sir Kenneth Callaghan... Lord Westlake...?"
"Oh yes," she replied. "A nice man, he was one of Daddy's friends, your grandfather... He worked for him when I was a girl...and visited us regularly..."
"I met him at Caroline Brookes's party last night..."
"Really!"
"Yes, he is the chairman of the banking company Caroline works at... He introduced himself to me and told me that he knew Granddad before he died and had lunch with Uncle Arthur sometimes. He seemed very well informed about the garden centre and Maggie and me..." I decided not to mention that he had requested the party be held in order to meet with me... THAT was just too curious.
Gwen chuckled. "That sounds just like Kenny... He was just plain Kenny Callaghan when I knew him... But he was always well ahead of the game which is why he soared to the top professionally and picked up his OBE, then a knighthood and eventually a peerage for services to British industry. He was Daddy's favourite protégé, and he was almost your uncle..."
"What!" I exclaimed in surprise, "But surely Maggie is too young..."
"No, not Maggie, idiot..." Gwen laughed. "Aunt Susan... She dated Kenny for a few months before meeting your Uncle Andrew...and I think Mother and Daddy were expecting them to get hitched. When she met, got engaged to and then married Andrew Christie in double quick time I think Kenny was quite devastated and went off to work in Hong Kong... I never really saw him after that. He kept in touch with your Grandfather and Uncle Arthur... and I believe that he made it up with Susan after he met and married his wife and Susan and Andrew were guests at his house sometimes."
I hadn't seen my other aunt since I was a tiny child and so didn't really know her at all, I could have passed her in the street and would not have recognised her, she lived in York, where her husband had been a consultant mason at York Minster until he died a few months back after a sudden heart attack. She had fallen out with Mum years ago, but they seemed to have resolved their differences after Uncle Andrew's funeral and I knew that they now spoke on the telephone every couple of weeks.
"I will ask her if she is still in touch with him," she added, "I shall be seeing her one evening this week, the house where she now lives is about halfway between York and Harrogate and we have arranged to meet for dinner at my hotel one evening."
"That's nice...I am glad that you two are getting along now."
"I think that you ought to make an effort to see her as well," Gwen put in, "We are not a big family and she is all alone now... besides... she may be thinking about moving back down south now that Andrew is gone, there is nothing to keep her in Yorkshire... most of the people she knows up there were really Andrew's friends. Susan never really did mix well, she doesn't make an effort to endear herself to other people."
"I always send her a card at Christmas and her birthday..." I pouted guiltily.
"No! I always send her cards and sign them from you and Emma..." Gwen corrected, for a moment she was my mother again scolding her errant son. "Better get used to the idea that she may be around, my darling... Maggie is thinking of inviting her to stay with her whilst she looks for a place to live...with the girls away there is plenty of room at the house..."
"Do you three get on well enough for that?" I asked. It had been difficult when Aunt Nikki Bardin had been staying with Maggie a few weeks ago... all families have issues but why women can't play nicely sometimes escapes me.
"Susan is ten years older than Maggie and I, so she had already left home and was married by the time that we were teenagers...and as much as I try, I can't really remember her being around when I was a kid..." Gwen explained. "She can be a bit of a snob at times... Susan and Andrew fully approved of Robert de Vere...he was a bit of a celebrity, had status and money and so she always kept in touch with Maggie and the girls." She gave a deep sigh, "Unfortunately, with or without good reason, she hated the sight of your father and I really did not know her well enough to be terribly concerned when we fell out over it... But I guess that time changes attitudes if not people..."
I really didn't want to get into a conversation about my father especially with Gwen, we had each other now and for me it was as if he had never existed most of the time. Nobody could see us in the enclosed pool area and so I pulled her to me and our lips met in a moist clinging kiss. "So-o-o-o how about we get out of our clothes and into the swimming pool...?" I suggested changing the subject and running my hand up the back of her tee shirt and gently tugging at her bra strap.
"Oh, no you don't... Jamie Riley..." She laughed, springing up from the seat. "Maggie could be home any time now and I don't think that it would be a good idea for your aunt and sister to catch us shagging in her pool...do you?"
"We could just swim..."
"It wouldn't end there, and you know it," Gwen chuckled, "My son and lover is a pervert who wallows in finding new and unique places to shag his poor mother... Especially if there is water involved."
Images immediately sprung into my mind of Maggie and I skinny dipping in the same pool a couple of weeks ago and the thought of Gwen and Maggie naked and wet started to cause unwanted movement in my trousers. She was right of course... we could not risk our happiness, everybody's happiness, by taking silly risks no matter how tempting.
"If you are determined to get wet..." she teased.
"Yes?" I responded eagerly, erotic visions of showers or baths springing into my head, that huge sunken bath at the Mountbatten Hotel that we had shared during our trip to the ballet was still one of the highlights of my life.
"You can come into the kitchen and wash and prepare some vegetables for supper tonight..." she chuckled. "...and then wash up the dishes."
Maggie and Emma got home around 6pm and we all sat around her big kitchen table and enjoyed the tasty lamb stew with red and green peppers on a bed of root vegetables that Gwen had prepared and updated each other on the highlights of our respective weeks in France and at home. After supper Maggie and I left Gwen and Emma clearing up and went outside, unloaded the Range Rover and I put Emma's bags into Gwen's car and then took Maggie's cases up to her room.
