Mie & Aren

Sunday morning...

"Well, don't you look immaculate and well-behaved," Karen mused as Jenny strolled into the small dining room, looking bright-eyed and radiant. The countess was also (by her standards) surprisingly modestly dressed; clad in a chic grey skirt suit, with her hair done up in its customary chignon, she seemed the model of propriety. "I find myself wondering if you're up to something."

"

Moi

, Kat?" Jenny said, sounding innocent, but smirking. "You make it sound like I'm inclined to pin a junior deacon down on the altar and do unspeakable things to him."

"There are reasons Freja and Jeanie are not allowed to come with us to church," the bronze-haired woman sighed, shaking her head while her blonde friend glided around the table, giving those present a hug from behind and a kiss on the cheek. "But I guess if you don't burst into flames the moment you pass through the narthex, then we shouldn't have any worries."

"Tosh," Jenny said, allowing Alex to seat her now. "I

have

attended services at Canterbury and Paul's Walk, after all."

"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence these days, Penrose," Karen said dryly, making her friend giggle again. Karen, Mike, Alex, Alexa, and Jordan were already all sitting in their places, just waiting for Jenny to arrive so they could begin breakfast. The matriarch looked at her chef. "What is on the menu this morning, Theresa?"

"I've prepared a frittata, ma'am, along with cornetti and biscotti," Theresa replied, nodding politely. "Cappuccinos to round it out, of course."

Karen looked at her guest. "Does all this meet with your approval, countess?"

Jenny smiled warmly. "It sounds delightful, thank you, Theresa. You may proceed."

They sat and talked while Valentina began serving them. There was still so much to catch up on after over thirty years, and they hardly knew where to begin. They were having breakfast early enough to not be in a rush out the door.

"So your bishop, this Fred bloke," Jenny mused, adding a dusting of nutmeg to the top of her beverage. "What sort of person is he? If I ever met him when we were younger, I am afraid I have forgotten."

"He was just a deacon when you last visited the cathedral with me. He's a well-intentioned man, of course, who cares for his church and his congregation," Karen answered, pulling apart her cornetto while she looked at her son. "But, as Alex recently chose to forget, his sense of humour is rivalled only by the battle of Verdun for its sense of whimsy."

"Ah, hence our young prince's punishment that has been alluded to," Jenny said, nodding and smiling at Alex, who looked down at his plate. "Although I have yet to be told what his penance is."

"I see no harm in telling you," Karen offered, looking at her husband, who nodded. "He is converting nearly forty years of homemade movies into a digital format for safekeeping."

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Jenny mused, wondering why Alex seemed so put out.

"

Intimate

homemade movies and videos," Karen added. "Michael and I have a rather extensive archive."

Jenny raised an eyebrow while Valentina tried to rein in a smirk while she stood nearby. Jordan just kept sipping his cappuccino. "That wouldn't happen to include old videos from St. Eve's, would it, Kat?"

Karen's nonchalant smile behind her cup said it all. Jenny gave Alex a wicked smile. "Well now, you're about to learn a lot more about me than you bargained for, young man."

Alex sighed loudly and Alexa broke down snickering while Theresa began dishing out the frittata.

***

Mike & Karen, Chapter XXVII- A New Old Love, Part II

St. Evangeline's Academy for Young Women, the school chapel, 1983...

"

Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven

and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen

the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent.

"

Karen was kneeling on the padded hassock, her hands folded and her eyes closed as she quietly spoke the familiar words, words she'd recited more times than even she could remember. The rows of pews behind her were filled with the young women who attended the academy, the last seat on the outer edge of the pews occupied by a teacher. The innermost seats were occupied by girls who were considered responsible or exemplars of what St. Evangeline's presented to the world.

Karen, as

étoile,

occupied the innermost seat of the first row on the right side of the nave, where everyone could see her and follow her example.

She opened her eyes and tilted her head sideways just slightly, looking across the nave to the inner seat of the first pew on the left row. Kneeling and praying, her eyes pressed to her thumbs while her hands were folded in prayer, was Jennifer Penrose, heiress to the Countship of Greymoor in Devonshire, and the person Karen loved most in the whole world.

The beautiful blonde kept praying, but Karen could see something was off. Jenny's lips were not syncing up with the prayer they were all saying. Karen narrowed her eyes and concentrated on her beloved friend's lips.

"

Watermelon cantaloupe watermelon cantaloupe watermelon cantaloupe...

" she seemed to be saying quietly.

She's forgotten the words again,

Karen realized in despair.

How on earth can a girl spend so much time in proper cathedrals and not know the Book of Common Prayer by heart?

"

Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring

us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church;

through Jesus Christ our Lord

.

Amen.

"

A few minutes later, they were walking back across the lawn to the dormitory, the morning services concluded. While St. Evangeline's was in theory non-denominational, it's roots and its services would always be with the Church of England. Jenny walked silently beside her friend, both of them with their hands folded in front of them, as was considered proper.

"Okay, I'll bite," Karen said finally, shaking her head. "How in God's name, quite literally, did you forget the words to number eleven?"

Jenny smirked. "Noticed that, did you?"

"You're lucky nobody aside from me did, Penrose," replied the bronze-haired girl, a note of reproach in her voice. "What forced that vital information out of your brain this week?"

"Hard to say, really," Jenny quipped in a sassy tone. "There are so very many distractions that erode the boundaries of a girl's piety and propriety."

"How you are still the second-best student in the school is a mystery to me," Karen said.

"I'm only second best because of your stubborn refusal to prove mortal and relinquish the title of

étoile

," Jenny pointed out. "Were it not for you, Kat, I would be in those shoes; not that I want to be, mind."

"I don't know if that worries me or not," muttered her companion. "If you, with your track record and behaviour, are the best St. Evangeline's has to offer when I am not in the equation, we might as well just change our name to St. Trinian's and be done with it."

Jenny laughed gaily, knowing her beloved Kat was only teasing her and griping for form's sake. It was their dynamic, after all. They always had one another's back, and they were very,

very

much in love. They'd come to St. Eve's at the same time and been roommates ever since. She reached out and took Karen's hand, squeezing it while they walked toward the dorm.

Once they were in their room, they began getting out of their attire meant for chapel service and into more practical wear meant for lessons. Blouses and skirts still, of course, although perhaps not quite so stuffy.

"Well, at least you were wearing underwear to the service," Karen mused, watching her friend get changed.

"Even I have standards, Kat," Jenny said, returning the look with a flirtatious wink. "I can remember to wear knickers in front of God, even if I don't always remember what I'm supposed to say to Him."

"Heresy," Karen sighed, shedding her skivvies and redressing for the etiquette lesson. "I am surrounded by heretics who don't know the common prayers."

Jenny gave her a sly smile, sauntering toward her. "Maybe if you used that pious tongue to spell the words out for me inside my-"

"Penrose!" Karen hissed, looking at the English girl in exasperation. "You'll have us condemned to Dis before the night is out!"

Down in the lounge where their lesson was to take place, the instructor and the attending teacher were waiting for the pair. The pair of girls were barely on time, hurrying in to the room.

"You are unusually late, Miss Gordon," observed the severe woman who was the instructor. "And even you were cutting it unusually close, Miss Penrose. What kept you both?"

"Oh," Jenny said somewhat breathlessly. "A little of Dis, a little of Dat..."

Karen could only thank the Almighty that the teacher and instructor clearly didn't know their Dante.

***

St. James Cathedral, Sunday morning, the present...

"The announcements will be mercifully brief this week," the rector announced, garnering chuckles from the audience. "First, Amy Corcoran is looking for volunteers for her fundraiser. If you have the time and the goodwill, please see her during coffee hour after the service."

He then smiled as he continued reading. "A special welcome to a distinguished guest in our midst. Hosted by our elders, Karen and Michael DeBourne, Lady Jennifer Penrose, the Countess of Greymoor in Devonshire, is with us today. Countess, if you wouldn't mind standing so people can see and greet you?"

There were whispers in the pews as Jenny stood and smiled charmingly at everyone, looking around and giving an elegant wave. Many people said 'hello' and there was a round of applause. She nodded respectfully and took her seat again, next to Jordan, along with Alex and Alexa.

"Seems unfair that your parents are forced to sit all the way over there near the transept and away from the congregation," Jenny whispered to Alex while the announcements proceeded. She couldn't help but notice that many people nearby were all looking at her, nodding at her and smiling or mouthing the word 'Hello'.

"Kinda their default," Alex whispered back, watching while Jenny smiled and subtly waved to her new fans. "Dad's so big that he blocks the view of the people behind him, and they won't let him sit near the back, so it was decided that he gets to sit in the seats traditionally reserved for elders of the congregation."

"He must absolutely hate that," Jenny mused.

"On the plus side, he and mom get to whisper to one another without disturbing anyone," Alex said simply. "It's something."

"It's the simple things sometimes," Jenny agreed before returning her attention to the deacon.

The Parish House, after the service...

"Well, this is new now, isn't it?" Jenny mused, looking around at the wide-open space she stood in as it filled up with people.

"Yeah, it opened in twenty-twelve, gave the church a lot more room to host events and so on," Alex said, standing beside her, along with Jordan. Not surprisingly, Alexa was already off greeting some girlfriends and gabbing with them. She looked radiant in her blue dress that complemented her sapphire eyes, and she was wearing her long, golden blonde hair in a series of curls so that it only reached her behind, instead of her knees. "It's been pretty useful, I'm told."

"Well, lovey, I will go and greet people and butterfly my way around the room so that you are not stuck in any boring and interminable conversations with my new fans," she cooed, patting his cheek before winking and then turning away. "Try not to have too much fun without me!"

Yeah, like that's gonna happen,

Alex sighed, watching as the countess breezed off and intercepted a small knot of people who had been making a beeline for her. He restrained a laugh, since several of them bowed or curtsied when she approached, and he could hear her titles and formal manner of address being bandied around.

"There you are, child," Karen said as she approached Alex, already holding a Styrofoam cup of dreadful coffee. She drank it out of principle, but nobody could make her like the swill. "I see the countess is already off charming her new fan club."

"Better her than me," Alex said, shrugging and wondering if they were heading back home for lunch or out to eat. Nobody had seen fit to intimate that vital piece of information to him. "I dunno how either of you do it, really."

"Practice, my son," Karen replied, smiling pleasantly while sipping her hot black water. "Decades of practice."

"Remined me to never become an elder or a countess," Alex chuckled.

Across the room...

"Wow, Lexi, your friend the countess is so pretty," one girl said while staring at Jenny, who was some distance away and making people clustered around her laugh with a blithe anecdote.

"She's a very old friend of Kar's, they went to school together back in the seventies and eighties," Alexa explained. "But yeah, she's a real countess back in England, and she's staying with us for a while, reconnecting with my big sissy. They haven't seen each other in a long time."

"Ooh, has your brother-in-law got competition?" another girl teased.

"I somehow doubt that," Alexa laughed. "Who the heck could steal Kar away from that man?"

"Point," several of the girls agreed all at once before giggling together. Mike may have been the senior elder and old enough to be father to most of these girls, but he was still masturbation material when their bedroom doors closed. Not that Alexa cared. Mike and Karen probably didn't either.

"Countess, you look so elegant and chic," one woman gushed as she looked at Jenny's clothes. "Is your attire from Savile Row?"

In fact, Jenny had bought the outfit the day before after driving around and making out with Kat, leading to her panties and jeans being soaked through with her arousal. She couldn't exactly tell people that, though, and her conversation partner would likely be embarrassed if Jenny told her it was local. Time for a little harmless obfuscation.

"Do you like it?" Jenny asked, turning around gracefully as if modeling the skirt suit for everyone, giving them a good look. "I'm rather fond of the cut myself. And the fit is perfection, don't you think?"

"Exquisite," agreed another woman, hoping to be noticed as well. "I'll have to keep a look out for this place when I am next in London."

"Goodness, but it already getting a tad warm in here, isn't it?" Jenny remarked, making a show of fanning herself. "Had I known the reception after service would be in a room kept at the temperature of the sun, I might have opted for lighter attire."

There was general laughter before one woman replied. "If you're too warm, my lady, you should take off your jacket. We're rather informal after service around here."

"Very kind of you to tell me, but I am afraid that my frame, if you will, has a nasty habit of making me look rather immodest," Jenny said with some feigned distress. "Like Kat and Alli, I am somewhat overbuilt, pardon my unseemly turn of phrase."

"Nonsense, countess," another woman said, waving her concern off easily. "More than a few of our congregation members are somewhat generously built, it isn't fair to make them suffer. Please make yourself comfortable."

Jenny knew, of course, that her bust was not at all concealed by her grey jacket, exquisite as it may have been, because that wasn't its function. Now she was surrounded by more than a dozen people who were all waiting to see what she would do next. She hadn't intended to keep her jacket on in any event, but this worked to her advantage, in fact.

"You're all very kind," she sighed, undoing her jacket buttons and then slipping it off, revealing her pearlescent silk blouse. Of course, she wasn't actually overwarm or sweating, but the effect this action had on her audience was immediate. When her large bust, concealed by her blouse became obvious, the eyes of more than a few women widened, and all the men stared rather blatantly.

"Well, you certainly weren't kidding about being built like Karen or her sister," said the woman who had told her it was okay to take her jacket off. She glanced at her husband and scowled before swatting him. "Excuse you, mister!"

"Sorry," he said hastily, blushing while everyone else laughed.

"Alex?" Jenny called out now, looking in his direction. Within seconds, the tall young man strode up, smiling at her. "Yes, aunt Jen?"

"My jacket, if you please," she said, handing it to him without ceremony. "I left my valet back in Heatherly, so I am afraid this duty falls to you, my dear boy."

"Not a problem, aunt Jen," he said cheerfully before nodding and departing. Whatever game she was playing, he'd do his part. He knew a grift when he saw it.

"Did he just call you 'Aunt Jen'?" one man asked. "Are you and Mrs. DeBourne related?"

"Oh, Heavens to Gimbels, no," Jenny said, shaking her head and smiling. "No, Kat's family back in England, the Blackwells, are the Marquesses of Hastings, and many other titles so very far above mine. But I have known Kat since we went to prep school together, so Alex refers to me as his aunt. Quite charming, really, since he's known me for only two days."

"So... if she were English like you, Karen would be a... a..." one woman tried to parse out.

"A marchioness, yes," Jenny finished for her, nodding. "Wouldn't she make the most splendid aristocrat?"

"What would that make Mike?" another woman wondered, looking over at the titan elder on the far side of the room.

"Oh, he'd still be a heresy, lovey," Jen laughed. "After all, what place does Thor have in any church hierarchy, forget the C of E?"

"She certainly seems to be a hit," the bishop observed as he stood across the room with Mike and Karen. He too reviled the coffee, but as the leader of the church, he was obligated to drink it. "Oh, I

do

wish the husbands wouldn't stare like that. They're as bad with her as they are with you, Karen."

"Worse, I imagine," Karen replied, smirking. "After all, Jen's not married to a thunder god that the good men of the congregation are frightened of."

"That's fair, although I wish we could find another moniker to refer to him by in these circumstances," he sighed. "You know, heresy and all that."

"Oh, Fred," Karen said easily, patting his arm and lapsing into Latin, which he only spoke haltingly when he wasn't reciting a particular liturgy. The Anglican service was English, so Latin, while expected in its ministers, wasn't always solid. "

If I were to guess, I would think she is playing a part she has assigned to herself.

"

He thought for a few seconds about what his lovely elder was saying before looking back at Jenny. "And what might that be?"

Mike chimed in now. "

Our guest has decided that she is very much in the corner of Alex and Alli, so she will use her social status and general aura of authority to convince any outliers that our cause is just.

"

The bishop slowly translated what Mike had said to him before looking up at him. "But she cannot possibly wield more influence than the two of you."

"Just a different influence," Karen said, switching back to English so as to not further tax their conversation partner. "Our resident social climbers have flocked around her, hoping to bask in her graces, as you can see."

"I can't say as I approve, but I suppose it is better than lengthy and tiresome ethical arguments in the discussion rooms, isn't it?" the older man sighed.

"D'you have to curtsy or bow or anything when you're around her?" a girl asked Alexa, since they were still standing in their little clique.

"Heck no," Alexa laughed. "I call her 'Aunt Jen' and I hug her and give her a kiss on the cheek every morning. She's our guest, y'know, and kinda like family."