The Reluctant Psychic

If you are new to my Reluctant Psychic series, please consider starting from the beginning. The story, characters and events in this chapter will make more sense when given context from the preceeding chapters. If not, welcome back and I hope you enjoy the story.

* * *

I awoke from my nap feeling more refreshed than I had in months. As the fog of sleep slowly lifted from me, my mind savored the pleasant dreams that were already fading. The dreams had been filled with music, warmth and silken caresses. I breathed in the rich scent of vanilla, which told me that the dream wasn't entirely a dream.

My arms were wrapped around Gwen's lush body, with one hand cupping a breast and the other resting on her smooth hip. My nose was buried in her hair and my lips were grazing her ear. I gently kissed her ear and hugged her to me. I realized as I pulled her towards me, that my semi-erect penis was nestled inside of her from behind. How she'd managed that without waking me, I have no idea.

As I hardened inside of her, Gwen let out a deep purring sound. She stretched one arm high over her head, twisting and stretching. She stretched her other arm, and continued her purring sound. Finally satisfied with her stretch, she turned her body from the hips, so that she could look at me without allowing me to slip out of her.

"Good morning, Gwendolyn," I said to her while giving her flushed cheek a kiss.

"Did we oversleep dinner?" she asked, with a slightly panicked look.

"I just meant... No, we didn't oversleep dinner."

I felt her squeeze my cock inside of her, as she closed her eyes and hummed to herself. After a few rhythmic squeezes, which left me as hard as ever, she stopped. She opened her bright grey eyes and looked at me. "I like waking with you inside me even more than falling asleep. But you always seem to fall out. This time I didn't let you," she said. Her smile turned bittersweet and she added, "but we don't have time for making babies, dinner will be ready soon."

"But no one's here, they all left," I said. I could feel Gwen's presence, but no one else. Then I realized I wasn't really feeling Gwen's presence, just the warmth of her body against mine and the strange and wonderful feeling I get deep inside after making love.

I vaguely wondered how long I'd been asleep, and when we had made love. Had I come again while I slept? I thought I remembered a second time, after Gwen had climbed back in bed with me. So it is possible that the house was full of people, and my powers hadn't recovered yet.

Gwen started rocking her hips and settling back into my embrace. Her deep throaty humming sent wonderful vibrations through me. The exquisite feel of her body soon had my thoughts on other things than how long I'd been sleeping. But just as I was beginning to thrust myself into her, she stopped again.

"I don't want to get ready for dinner," she said.

"Who says we have to?"

"You have to wear your tuxedo tonight. And take a shower, even though I like it when you smell like me or my sisters." Without another word she moved forward, making my cock slide from inside of her. She then made shooing gestures with her hands, and I felt compelled to head towards the bathroom.

Gwen hadn't called the other girls her sisters in quite a while, although she still called Betsy her sister, since legally they were both my adoptive daughters. Of course, I reflected, she also hadn't called me "Daddy" in a long time either. I worried that she might be regressing, as the psychologist had warned that she might.

"She's fine," I heard Anna say. I was so surprised that I almost slipped as I was stepping under the shower.

"Where have you been?" I asked the voice in my head.

"Even a man's schizophrenia needs a few hours to herself."

"You're not my schizophrenia," I thought to her. When she didn't answer, I said out loud, "I'm not crazy!"

I looked around as if I could find the voice that had plagued me for so long, or at least someone to tell me I'm not crazy. Suddenly the shower curtain parted and Gwen's face peeked through and said, "I laid out your tux on the bed." Just as quickly her face was gone again.

"Gwen?" When she didn't peek in again, I called, "Gwendolyn?" I wanted to ask her if she thought I was crazy, but realized how foolish a question that would be. I also wanted her to shower with me, if for no other reason than to keep me company.

I heard the toilet flush and Gwen peeked in the curtain again. "I like it when you call me Gwendolyn," she said with a beatific smile. This time her face didn't disappear so quickly. She must have understood that I wanted her to join me, since she said, "I like smelling like you and my hair will be too wet to eat dressed up."

I was having a bit more trouble parsing her grammar than usual, and without my powers I couldn't sense the meaning directly from her mind. She frowned at me for a moment, until I understood that if she showered with me, she couldn't get her hair dry in time to get dressed up for dinner. I mumbled, "Alright, I'll see you at dinner?"

"I love you," she said before disappearing again. It wasn't the answer I was expecting, it wasn't even the answer I was afraid of getting, but it made me smile. It more than made me smile; I began humming the song that Gwen had written for me. No, I realized, she had written it for us.

I had just finished the main theme of the song, which contained Gwen's musical equivalents for our names, and the other notes that felt like words when Gwen's faced appeared. She was laughing this time. "You aren't crazy, just silly. You should say it like this," she said before humming a slightly different melody. It became apparent that I had incorrectly conjugated the verb, since only a woman should hum it the way I had.

Her face disappeared again, only to reappear a moment later. "Now quit calling me back, I have to get ready!" I heard her bare feet quickly slap against the tiles and the door slam shut.

* * *

Looking at myself in the mirror, I was pleased with what I saw. No so much my face or hair, as that I had managed to get into the new tuxedo without any of the girls helping me. It helped that there were detailed pictorial instructions on how to tie a bow-tie taped to the garment bag. I took a last swipe at my hair with a comb, before deciding I probably looked the best I could manage without help.

As I walked down the stairs, I kept expecting the feeling of loneliness to return. I thought it was because I knew Gwen was somewhere in the house, but that didn't feel like the right answer. As I crossed the marble foyer heading towards the dining room, I wasn't overwhelmed by the sharp click my new shoes made on the floor.

I was feeling even better as I passed the living room and saw that the signs of abandonment were gone. The room still wasn't occupied, but it appeared to have been cleaned rather than left behind. As I entered the dining room, I was greeted by soft music and an empty table.

I slowly walked towards my seat at the head of the table, wondering what Gwen had in store for me. As I began to sit down, I thought that she might need help carrying in the food, even if it were only peanut-butter sandwiches again. I thought I heard Gwen giggle, but the thought was as quickly gone as the supposed giggle.

I had only been sitting a moment before I heard the click of high heels coming from the hall. The pitch and temp of those high heels told me they weren't attached to Gwen, since Gwen chooses shoes for their sound more than their appearance. The thought that another one of my girls had come home, brought me to my feet before she appeared.

It was Betsy. She was dressed in a long black velvet cocktail gown complete with elbow length gloves and a black velvet choker. Her long brown hair cascaded about her bare shoulders in soft ringlets. For once, she even wore makeup, very understated, but it helped conceal that she had been crying not too long ago. But she wasn't crying when she saw me and my heart warmed to see a genuine smile light up her face as she walked towards me.

"I'm sor..." I started by her velvet clad finger pressed against my lips. She looked downward for a second and gave a slight sigh before composing herself.

"Not tonight," she said. She used her hand to guide my head down slightly so she could kiss my cheek. "Thank-you" she whispered, before withdrawing her lips and gentle breath from so near to my ear. I didn't manage to ask what I had done to deserve thanks, since I didn't believe it was for starting to say I was sorry about her father passing away, before she asked, "Are you going to make me stand all night?"

The manners I had learned as a child suddenly took over, and I moved quickly to pull out the chair for her. The girls had worked so hard to get me out of the habit, that it felt a bit strange. But it also felt really good, as if I were truly returning home.

With Betsy sitting to the right of my chair, I was just about to sit when I heard another pair of heels clicking in the hall. Bambi walked in wearing a dark green sheath dress that accentuated her figure, especially the way she sashayed into the room. Her red hair was held back by a set of emerald combs that I had given her years before. Apparently she'd seen a jeweler since then, because she had new emeralds around her throat and on her ears that looked to be a matched set.

Bambi stood beside the chair next to Betsy and looked at me with a raised eyebrow and cocked hips. Again, my long dormant training kicked in and I moved to pull out her chair. As I stood holding her chair out, she kissed me on the cheek and whispered "Thank-you." I knew it wasn't for holding the chair, but I didn't have time to ask.

One by one the girls arrived. The clicking of their heels began as each of the previous girls were seated. They would wait for me to hold their chair, kiss my cheek and whisper, "Thank-you." I was halfway around the table before I realized that each girl was arriving in the order she had entered my life.

It was also halfway around the table that the pattern changed slightly. The pattern didn't actually change, but the tone changed. There was a hint of nervousness under the excitement and love that all the girls displayed. I wondered why Magda would be nervous, or why the girls who were already seated seemed to smile a little brighter when they welcomed her to the table.

Even though it took some time, I enjoyed seating my girls. When I finally sat Samantha down in the chair to my left, I realized that something was wrong. There were only enough chairs for everyone to sit at the table if one of the girls joined me in love-seat chair at the head of the table. But all the girls were already seated and my chair remained empty.

I looked around the table and found all of my girls smiling at me. My fingers came up to do the mental math that I had already done twice in my head. The girls began giggling and I quickly shoved my hands into my pockets, trying to pretend they hadn't outsmarted me. But why would they go through all the trouble of sneaking an extra chair to the table?

I heard a faint clicking sound begin in the hallway. Even though the girl's only smiled, it seemed like the room was suddenly full of whispered conversations. I quickly counted the girls again, but they were all still there. Whoever was coming down the hall was a stranger to me.

When she was finally frame in the entrance to the dining room, I saw that it wasn't a stranger, it was Magda! I quickly looked down towards the foot of the table and saw Magda waving at me with one hand and concealing a giggle with the other. The new Magda walked slowly towards me, at least it seemed like it took forever for her to arrive.

She wore a purple and black dress, that I realized in shock was a perfect match for the vest of my new tuxedo. But only a small part of me registered that shock, the rest of me was busy taking in her appearance. Her long blonde hair was combed out straight, draping on her left shoulder to cascade over her breast. She slowly raised her gloved hand towards me, and I eagerly bowed over and kissed it. As I stood up straight she said, "My name is Katia, I believe you know my sister." Her smile spoke volumes, and if I had ever learned to read smiles instead of the thoughts behind them, I might have known what her smile said.

"Welcome to our humble home," I said with a wave that encompassed the house and everything within. Her smile changed when I spoke, but I couldn't tell what the change meant, but she seemed to regard me with more interest than she had before. "Please join us for dinner." I only realized after I spoke that there was no food in sight.

"There only seems to be one seat left," she said, making the statement sound like a question. I finally realized that although they were physically identical, Magda's sister had virtually no trace of a Czech accent. I thought back and realized for all I knew they could be identical twins, since all I really learned about them all those years ago was that Magda was the elder sister.

"I would be honored if you'd join me."

She curtsied and allowed me to pull back her half of the seat for her. We sat next to each other, our shoulders brushing. There were no more rigid formalities to hide behind and a sense of awkwardness began seeping into me. I felt like a boy on a first date, and in a way I was. This was the first time I had truly met a tongue stammering beauty without being able to use my powers to read her, or influence her.

Thankfully the awkwardness didn't have long to set in. I heard a bell ring and moments later the doors to the kitchen flew open. A long stream of waiters appeared and in moments we each had a place setting in front of us. Another stream appeared, this time waitresses bearing glasses and pitchers of iced water. More glasses appeared borne by another set of waiters. They waited a moment while the first set of waiters returned with wine stands and champagne. There appeared to be a waiter and a waitress for each of us, and a wine steward for every four.

How had the girls hidden this many people in the house? This must have taken them weeks to plan. I also wondered how they could have kept Katia's visit from me. "They had help," came a familiar voice inside my head. Before I could ask Anna what she meant, a voice that wasn't inside my head spoke to me.

"Is dinner always such a big production? Magda said that... well.. as she put it, 'family dinners' are special, but I didn't think she meant this." Katia seemed almost nervous, and I don't know if she realized her hand was gripping my forearm.

"No, this is something special. A celebration for your visit." I almost added that it was also a surprise for me.

"But, I'm not visiting," she said. When she saw the confusion in my face the hand that had rested on my arm went to her mouth. "You don't know that I'm moving in? She said that everyone knew and they were all so happy."

I took her hand and gently pulled it away from covering her mouth. "Just because I didn't know, doesn't mean I'm not happy." I paused and realized that might not be entirely true. I had no idea who this girl was, not in any way that mattered. "Well, I'm pretty sure I will be happy, once I get to know you better." My brain was churning quickly, but rather than ask any of the potentially useful questions, I said, "But what about Med School?'

"You mean she also didn't give you the invitation to my graduation? Six months ago?" I could tell she was thinking things through as well. She added, "I'm also going to guess that you also didn't know that I opened a practice in town, that you paid for, and that my sister and your... well, your girlfriends were some of my first clients?"

"They've been sick?" I asked aghast. I looked around at my girls and wondered why they would keep an illness from me. I didn't even know how they could have. The girls were all busy chatting among themselves, being careful not to let me see them keeping an eye on my conversation.

"I'm not that kind of a doctor. I'm an obstetrician/gynecologist." She paused and her hand went to my cheek. "They're all fine. But are you okay? You're very flushed."

"How could they hide all this from me?"

"Don't forget that they also hid it all from me. Well, I suppose not the parts that I'm involved in, but they didn't tell me they were hiding it from you."

I was about to repeat my question with more pointed emphasis on the "me" part. I realized that it would be fruitless unless I told her about my powers. Of course she wouldn't believe me and would ask me to prove it, and it would probably be another hour before I could do that. Then I remembered what Anna had said, "They had help." A wave of nausea struck me, and I felt my world begin to tumble down again.

I was on my feet apologizing to Katia before I knew what was happening, "Please excuse me, my head...." I felt awful leaving the stunned Katia sitting at the table, but not as awful as I felt that my girls had hidden so much from me. It wasn't just that they had hidden things from me, but that Anna had helped them. I didn't know how a voice in my head could help them, but she had. The voice that I once thought was my conscience had turned out to be a fraud.

"Not a fraud," she said.

"So you're back? To kick me while I'm down?" I thought to her as I threw myself down on the lounger in my den. I tried to let the smell of soft leather and old books soothe my mind, but the migraine was jabbing too many ice-picks into my brain.

"At least you haven't been lying in a hospital bed for the last seventeen years."

"That's not you, that's Anna, the real Anna. You're a figment of my imagination. A guilt complex, that's what you are. I'm schizophrenic, I should be locked up right next to my grandfather. Assuming he hasn't died and the girl's conveniently forgot to tell me."

"You are not schizophrenic, you are not crazy, and neither is your grandfather."

"I suppose you're going to tell me my mom didn't mourn herself to death after my father died. Or that my father wasn't stabbed to death by a patient?"

"Shhhh..." I heard a new voice saying. I had been lying with my arm covering my eyes and slowly took it away. It took a minute to blink through my tears and to see that it was Magda, and that she was crying as well.

"You never told me about your parents," she said gently. "I know how hard it is to lose both parents in so short a time." She gently placed a hand on my cheek and stroked me gently. "But I was lucky enough to have a sister," she paused for a long time before adding, "and you."

"You wouldn't have lost your father if it weren't for me," I said with more hurt than she deserved to hear.

"Stop saying that. Never say that to me again, and never say it to my sister. Ever." She was really crying now, but her tears were hotter than they were before. "I know what happened, you've told me before, and I know." She emphasized the last word in a way that unsettled me, but she continued before I could figure out why, "Do you really think he would have made it out of there alive, even if you hadn't been there? If he had, would he have made it out of the slums with any of the money?"

She collapsed against me, her wet cheek pressing against my chest. Her hands clung to me as she cried. "Please don't tell my sister what happened. Don't even think about it. I don't want to lose either of you." I felt a faint glimmer of a thought coming from her. She thought her sister would try to kill me if she knew the truth, just like Magda had tried to do.

Gwen stepped into the room from where she had been waiting by the door. She put her arms around both of us and whispered something to Magda. Magda's soft sob turned into a wet snort and a bit of a giggle. Magda said, "Gwen thinks we'll feel better if we make love."