Interlude 21 Spreading or containing?
–oOo–
"I'm sorry, mamma…"
Jane shot her the little tired smile which was the only sign of pleasure she was able to show these last days.
"I know, sweetheart, I know…"
"I will be more careful, I swear… I will think about consequences before doing something new, I will, I promise."
Jane sighed, pulled her daughter toward her and hugged her while softly kissing the top of her head.
"I'm sure you want to be more careful, love, but I know you…" Her mother's smile broadened to almost a normal size. "I've observed you since you came into this world. You can't remember it, of course, but when you were born in Pemberley's pond, two hours after William, it was extraordinary how different you acted, he and you. William immediately searched for my breast and made himself comfortable against me. You, on the other side, I had to force you to come to me and stop exploring the pond. You weren't aged a minute and you were already swimming away from me." She shook her head. "Giving birth in water is such a marvelous experience, love, because your baby is free to move like he wants. The water sustains him and gives him a way to test his autonomy…" She looked at her daughter with a mix of admiration and frustration. "Aged only a minute and already ready to leave me to explore the world. I wasn't aware at the time that I already was been given a preview of what you'd be all your life."
"I'll try and…"
"Hush, love, I'm not scolding you, I'm just thinking aloud. Lizzie was like you when she was young, always trying something new; always observing her surroundings to be sure that nothing of importance could pass without her able to notice. I spent half my youth trying to convince her that there were ways to do things which didn't include running, climbing at trees or jumping over creeks!"
"Did you succeed?"
"Of course not, nothing could have stopped her and I must admit that if I compare you to her, you're a lot more…" She hesitated and finally shrugged with a hint of a smile lighting her eyes. "…Trouble! And trying to contain you is a task I'm no longer feeling fit to accomplish."
Betty felt her heart stop and her stomach shrink at the same time. Her mother most probably saw her paling because she immediately frowned and smiled at the same time.
"And no, silly, I'm not sending you away! I'm just looking for a way to stay composed while having you at our side. So I will trust your word and no longer try and stop your endeavors, love. It is always difficult for a mother to step back and to let her babies find their own paths. And with eleven years it is way too young to grant you such liberties, but if I go on letting my fears of what could happen to you invade my life, I'll rapidly have the same fits of nerves I always pitied my mother for. So here is my decision. I've heard your promises and I will trust you to not try to accomplish things that are clearly dangerous or foolish. You've seen and felt that you could have died. You are alive only because your sister came to me immediately and I was able to intervene before you were dead. Had it happened while you were being out of sight or too far away to get me on short notice, you would be dead, don't doubt it a second. So I want you to swear solemnly that if what you try to accomplish can be done within a hundred yards of where I or your father are you'll do it there and only after having spoken about it with me. I will, of course, try to talk you out of any foolish endeavor but I will myself pledge that if, even after I pleaded with you, you still want to go on, I won't stop you." She looked her daughter in the eyes. "No more secret moves or endeavors! I'm aware that you have to play the try and fail game to know your limits but I want to be informed each time you are embarking in something you have never done before. And I mean anything you haven't exactly done before. No quibbles about having done almost the same! It's new and it's even a little dangerous, you speak with me about it! And if I'm not there to discuss it with me, you look for another, safer, way to do it!" Betty couldn't help but moan.
"But mamma, that's too restraining! I'm not always aware a second before that I'll…"
"I'm not negotiating, sweetheart. I know you are guileless and that you are true to your word, that's why I want you to swear exactly what I asked. And I'll swear that, if you still want to do it after having spoken with me, I'll let you do it."
–oOo–
"That was hard on her" whispered d'Arcy while rocking his still shaken wife while she was in his lap.
"She needs to be shown limits without forcing anything on her. If I had given her strict limits it would have pushed her into rebelling. So it's clearly up to her to decide where her limits should be." She turned and smiled at him. "I know that she won't come for every new thing she'll test, as she said I'm quite sure that most of her stunts come out of the blue. But now that she has sworn, it will push her –when she has enough leisure at her disposal to do so- into thinking about consequences. I really believe it will give her that little part of caution she needs to be an almost normal kid."
"She never was" smiled d'Arcy. "And now that she has that stuff in her, she'll be even less so."
"I know, I know… It scares me and reassures me at the same time. It scares me because I know that she will want to know how far she can go with her new endurance. And it reassures me because she has her old memories of her normal days and that will restrict her even if it only on a non-conscious level. And if something serious should happen to her at last, if she's not dead on the spot, she'll heal faster and more efficiently."
"Which is not a so very good idea…"
"Neither is your support of her" hissed Jane.
"What support?" asked he while wearing his 'I really don't know what you are talking about' mien.
"You know exactly what I mean, monsieur d'Arcy! Each time you look at her you're swelling like the Gallic rooster you impersonate so very well. You're proud of her and it shows! She knows it and it has played a role in her stunts!"
He sighed and stopped playing the wounded pride.
"I must admit that I'm indeed proud of her, she's everything I have ever desired in my daughter. Just like I would have liked to be had my fath…"
"Been a normal loving father…" concluded Jane who absolutely refused to let him wallow in his nightmares as he did it in the past. But that didn't mean accepting to see him dwell in his misery. "And what about Lexi and William? No pride for them?"
"Of course I'm proud of them" protested d'Arcy with a grateful smile. "But William is way too Fitzwilliamish to speak to my inner craziness. He's the most balanced boy his age I ever have seen. He could climb on the throne today and he would be a good King."
"Let's not inflate yourself, please! He's eleven years old and not yet ready to make important decisions."
"Yes he is" protested d'Arcy. "He listens to his councilors and even asks Pitt about the way he would have done it. That's high policy, love. He knows that Pitt is the most important man –save my dear brother of course- in the political landscape and he shows it. Pitt loves him and since he is the best man for the Prime Minister post by a very large margin he'll probably still be there when William comes of age."
"He'll be near sixty," said Jane thinking aloud. "His smart brain will begin to slow…"
"Not if we upgrade him…" whispered d'Arcy.
Jane could only nod. Lizzie had already put that problem on the table. Why not upgrade those who have shown that they were worth it?
It had been a bitter fight between her and Mary against all the others –the kids having smartly chosen not to give their opinion- to get a non-decision. Which was the decision she and Mary had finally gotten.
For now, because the matter wasn't closed.
"Charles wants to upgrade all his scientific staff. His arguments are sane; why let bright minds wither away when we've got the chance to insure their survival."
"We don't know how older persons will adjust to the stuff…" protested Jane weakly.
"Look at me, your dad and you mamma and you'll have all the answers you need."
"We can't play God, love. We have no right to choose…"
"You want to let it be a random spreading?"
"Why spread at all?" asked Jane. "We could contain it to us…"
"I must remind you that Alexandre and his mother have benefited of said upgrade."
"We could convince them…"
"But we will not be able to convince Napoleon, dear. He will not hesitate a second before playing God. He already believes he's the new Roman God Emperor; he will use it as a way to reward his cronies."
"He's not upgraded if I remember well…"
D'Arcy shot her an amazed glance.
"Love, he's Josephine's husband and if I remember well they are quite active on the marital level. Even if not very faithful at all!"
Jane couldn't help but be dumbfounded. Of course if it spread with blood-sharing it would also spread by…
She blushed which made d'Arcy laugh happily and kiss her with gusto.
"You're incredible, mon amour, and I love you madly."
–oOo–
"Jane and I we fought" said a shaken Lizzie to her thoughtful husband. "For the first time in thirty years we fought… I still cannot believe it."
"Well I wouldn't want to shake you more than necessary but I believe she was right in her choice."
Lizzie tore herself out of her husband's arms and opened her mouth when he stopped her with a pointed finger.
"You want to fight also with me, Lizzie?"
That stopped her.
"Of course not but…"
"But what, Lizzie? Who are we to play God? I think Jane was right when she pushed you into doing nothing. We don't know yet what will happen after ten or twenty years. We need to be sure about what these creatures have given us…"
"Meanwhile how many good people will die of an accident or a blood poisoning?"
"How many good people are there on this world we will never even know of, Lizzie? We've got that stuff but does it mean that we are free to spread it as we see fit?"
"As I already said to Jane, we would upgrade only the good people…"
"Who will decide who's good and who's not, Lizzie?" He came nearer and took her again into his arms. "I understand totally why you are saying that, my love, but you must accept that I, as the Regent, can't just accept the concept that from now on there will be two human species on this planet and one that will be of our doing…"
"We didn't do it, Fitzwilliam. We are just the messengers and if what they gave us is as benign as I think it is, it is our duty to share."
"Is it?" Fitzwilliam made a face. "I'm not so sure. The less we share about it, the better. Let's just consider what could happen if it is benign and if the world learns about it, will our children still be safe? Have you considered that we, all of us, can now be considered as a source for something extremely rare and valuable? What do you believe a man like Fouché would be willing to do to get his hand on a pinch of our son's blood? And I can give you a list of a hundred not very kind people who, to get what we have received, will transform from not very kind to utterly unkind in less than a second! No, I insist that we put a very tight lid on that gold pot!" He let his wife out of his arms and pointed towards the three airships in attendance. "I want every member of the family en route to Gandhara, as soon as possible. Even William and Geoffrey are going. Pitt won't be pleased but he'll get over it. Go to Paris and get Josephine and Alexandre and, once you are on your way, explain her everything and try to convince her to be very discreet about it. As soon as you know more let me know if Napoleon is aware of what happened to us. If he knows I'll be busy speaking with him as soon as possible. And if he doesn't, I would very much like to let it stay that way."
"Is this the Regent speaking and ordering?" asked Lizzie in a very cold voice.
"No, it is a very worried father who wants to protect his children and his wife from her own goodness!" answered Fitzwilliam in a very fiery one.
They glanced at each other and, finally, Lizzie closed her eyes and nodded.
"We will depart immediately and we'll take everybody with us who knows anything about it. And when we come back we will have taken a decision. Will you accept it if we all agree?"
"If you all agree, I'll accept your decision but meanwhile please take all my arguments into account and don't speak about it with any outsider."
–oOo–
"Can I come in?"
"Of course you can…" answered Lizzie while flowing into her sister's arms.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let my temper…" began Jane soon interrupted by Elizabeth.
"My temper blossomed in the same manner, I just couldn't understand why you…"
"But Lizzie, it is too dangerous! For us, for the kids, fo…"
"I had a long discussion with Fitzwilliam and he gave me a lot of very worrisome arguments that didn't change my mind but made me understand why we should wait." She looked at her sister. "I'm still convinced that we must spread it…"
"I would agree with you if we could find a way to do this 'spreading' in a fair way. But I search and search a way and I don't find one. It always ends in tragedy."
Lizzie could only nod. Fitzwilliam was clearly of that same opinion.
"Fitzwilliam asks that we all go to Gandhara, even William and Geoffrey, in order to lessen the chances to let anybody know about our new possibility. We will take everybody who knows with us."
"Fitzwilliam comes with us?"
"No he stays and he will be the only one but since he is very convinced that it must remain a secret and not only for a few weeks, there won't be a problem with him. We will have to make a detour through Paris to get Josephine and Alexandre. She's like us and we must inform her about the situation. She probably hasn't yet recognized what has happened to her and her son and we need to brief them."
"When do we leave?"
"The trunks are being packed as I speak. We move as soon as everybody is aboard."
Jane hugged her.
"I'm sorry that you'll have to do without Fitzwilliam, I know how it is when he is abroad for a long time."
"At least it won't last two years like for you and Geoffrey."
"It had its silver linings; my Christmas gifts were memorable…"
–oOo–
"By God, it is Heavens that sends you, Jane…" said Josephine with tears in her eyes. "Napoleon is ill and nobody knows what illness has struck him. They believe he is going to die. Perhaps you could..?"
"Of course, I can. I'll do everything in my power to save him, Josephine. I don't like the politician but the man has always been very charming and he is my best friend's husband, I won't let him die… Let's pick up Mary and go see your husband."
–oOo–
"You… Do… Know… What?" whispered Napoleon who was burning and dripping with sweat.
"Yes I know" answered Jane. "And I believe I can save you…"
He half laughed half coughed.
"Lots… Will… Be… Disa… Pointed…" stammered the little man. "Lots… Wait… Take… Place!"
"Well, they will have to wait a little longer," said Jane while mixing herbs and decoctions. They would help but what would do the job was the healing drug Mary had brewed and the spells they would both use like she did with Betty a few nights earlier.
"What happened? " asked Jane while mixing her potions.
"Nothing happened…" answered Josephine. "He came back yesterday from his Greece tour and we have spent the evening together, we have dined with Alexandre and Napoleon was very satisfied with himself and the world."
Jane looked at Mary who nodded and blushed in advance.
"Did you… Make love that night?"
Josephine frowned.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because it is very contagious. We'll have to look at you immediately after saving his life. But don't worry if taken at an early stage the illness can be healed very easily. You won't even have a fever! So I must insist, did you..?"
"Yes," answered Josephine. "And it was more than satisfying."
"You'll have a lot more possibilities to be satisfied in the future, I give you my word on it!" Jane smiled. "We still have to save that husband of yours." She winked at her friend. "You're sure you still want him. Now could be a good opportunity!"
"He's the one even if he isn't the most faithful husband in the world. It's him I love."
"Love… You… Too…" whispered Napoleon.
"Alright, then, your choice. Can you hold his hand while Mary and I we do our healing?"
"Of course…"
–oOo–
"And my physicians couldn't have saved me?" asked Napoleon just after Mary had said her goodbyes to let Jane and the Consular couple alone.
"I can't say for sure even if I know by personal experience that your surgeons are the best, but in this case it has nothing to do with surgery, with this illness the survival chances of the patient seem very slim," answered Jane. "It is a very dangerous illness I believe we brought back from South America. Betty got the same thing a few nights ago. I could barely save her…"
"Well, thank God that you came to Paris then!" He picked her hand and breathed a kiss on her fingers. "I'm eternally in your debt, madame d'Arcy, and please let madame Duroc know that I am also very grateful to her. I was playing the courageous man but I was very aware that I was dying. It was as if my innards were being eaten from the inside."
"It is, as I said, a dangerous illness that takes its toll on the body. But you have it, from now on, in your system. And I can't pledge that you will not have a chance to infect people around you."
Napoleon frowned at her.
"How could I infect people around me?"
Jane blushed and opened her mouth to try and explain when Napoleon roared his merriment.
"I get it, your mean intercourse!" He frowned at her. "You wouldn't be trying to convince me to stay faithful to Josephine, now would you?"
Jane frowned back at him.
"I know that you are a womanizer, your Grace," said Jane with an air of total disapproval. "And I know that you are not faithful to Josephine. Which does make her unhappy…"
"Hey" protested Napoleon. "Do I speak with the wife who shares her husband with another woman? How is it that what your husband does on a daily basis I can't do once a year?"
Jane, who was quite aware of that little flaw, had no problem to counter that fallacious argument. "That's not the same. He didn't cheat on me. He married her officially." She stopped and looked him in the eyes. "And Maureen was in love with him and he with her, I had no right to be the cause of both their unhappiness."
Napoleon just smiled at her.
"You are indeed from another planet, madame d'Arcy, and because of that I will take your advice and your practices into consideration. I'll perhaps have to search for a second wife in the next months…"
"That's not what I…"
"I'm making fun of you, your Grace," interrupted Napoleon just before laughing aloud and winking at her. "Or perhaps not!"
Jane forced herself to stay serious and to come back to the subject of the illness. If she wasn't careful she would smile and he would take her smile as an approval.
"What I say is that, while gallivanting, you could infect a partner and if said partner has not, like Josephine, already been infected before, she could die. Because as you've felt it yourself, the illness is dangerous and most people would die. I would help and save her if present but such a possibility is rather remote…"
Napoleon was more amused than angry and he showed it with a toothy smile.
"I'll be careful, I promise. But, even if my reputation says the contrary –I did what had to be done to build it, after all- I'm not the womanizer they describe. I can show restraint, I give you my word!" He winked at her. "Or I'll summon the Duke of Frioul in order to have your sister present next time I feel in the mood to seduce a woman."
Jane shook her head and pointed an accusing finger at him.
"You shouldn't take those things so lightly! You could really have died from that illness. It doesn't last long and there are no visible after-effects but while burning in your body it could overheat it and fry your brain."
"Once I have survived there is no longer a problem, isn't it?"
Jane nodded.
"Indeed, there is no longer any risk, you're out of danger."
"That's good news. And how long do I have to stay in bed?"
"Betty was up and running the following morning. As I said, no visible after effects, but she's eleven years old with energy I really don't know where to find. I suppose that as soon as you feel well you could stand up."
"That's even better news; I'll take a nap and see how I feel in a few hours."
Jane nodded before looking at Josephine.
"As you see, he is no longer in danger, we should let him rest."
–oOo–
"You really believe it would help me?"
"I'm sure of it" answered Jane while taking great care saying the truth to her friend without revealing any secret. She was quite sure that Fouché's spies where at work even here and if there was one man she didn't want to inform, it was Fouché. "I'm almost certain that what I have found could eliminate your blood illness. But I need to make a few tests and since we'll be on the road for the next weeks, I came to ask you to accompany us. It would be easier for me to have you under my eyes." She smiled at her friend. "And it would lift a burden from my shoulders since it could be that the journey could take longer than expected. And coming back to find you dead would weigh heavily on my soul."
"I'll see what can be done… Would it be possible to take Alexandre with us?"
"He's a member of the family, remember? He has a standing invitation stemming from all the kids! Who would be foolish enough to try and stop those youths' will?"
–oOo–
"I'm sorry to have to let you go on alone, but I'm needed in London and Paris is the end of our common journey. I have a few new American possessions to integrate into the Kingdom. If I'm not there to push everybody to compromise I'll be stuck with a new American rebellion."
Lizzie smiled.
"I can't understand why only half of them accepted your proposition."
"There are stubborn idiots everywhere. I'll see if I can get them out of Napoleon's clutches a little later. I'll leave them to sweat it out for a few months. I hope they will be a lot smarter after a few months of French occupation."
"I heard that that nigger army did do massacres…"
"There was bad blood between the niggers and the plantation owners but d'Arcy's special troops contained the worst. There were no civilian casualties… Not a lot at least…" whispered Fitzwilliam who knew better. There had been at least one civilian massacre but the guilty French regiment had already been dealt with. But word had spread and the situation was much more difficult for the French occupation troops than it had been in Great Britain. Even if all the American natives were now firmly fighting at France's side, it wouldn't be enough in case of a general uprising.
"The relations between the military occupation forces and local authorities are not very good and the occupied States are at the brink of rebelling again. I hope to use that situation to convince Napoleon to call his losses and to let it go. There will be a price to pay but, hopefully, only in square miles of lost territories and not in human lives."
"Aren't you tired to play the fireman for other peoples' mistakes?"
"If it saves lives, it's worth it; you know it as well as I. We haven't been handed an easy job but I believe that the job God –and d'Arcy- gave me was not totally out of my reach. It seems that I'm able to manage most of what had been handled to me. I wouldn't stop now when there are so many people who need me!"
She came nearer and cuddled against him.
"I love you, Fitzwilliam Darcy…"
"What a divine surprise, Elizabeth Darcy, I love you too!"
–oOo–
"Oh, so it is my fault?"
"Of course not" protested Jane. "If there's someone to blame they can be found in that vessel of theirs under Eldorado. They used us and changed us without even bothering to ask us. But it is not only an illness, it is much more…"
"What do you mean much more?"
"Well, I wasn't joking when I said that they changed us. They put something into us and that something is…" She hesitated. "Has affected us in manners we still don't know in their totality. There are perhaps minuses we don't know about yet but there is a proven plus, injuries heal a lot faster with us. For instance William jumped from…" she sighed and closed her eyes to smother the anger which was always there when she was thinking of the accident, "…a higher place and misjudged the proximity of thorns and cut himself up from his buttocks to his heel. The cut was ugly and deep and the boys were a little panicked to get help. Of course I was there within minutes but the cut had already stopped bleeding and an hour later there was no longer a trace of the injury. Hadn't it been for the huge pool of blood we were wadding in I wouldn't have believed it."
"That's how you discovered it…"
"Not really, that gave us the certainty. My husband had already noticed that he was no longer lacking stamina…" She blushed and Josephine who was by far the most mundane lady of Jane's associates encouraged her to go on. "We have since our marriage a lively love life but it was no longer as long-lasting as ten years ago. Always intense and satisfying but these last years, Maureen and I often didn't get, as it was tradition at the beginning of our marriage, a second… Time. But since we were in Eldorado he's quite…" she smiled her most blatant smile at her friend. "Back to normal and, if I can trust my memories, even better and tougher…"
Josephine looked at her.
"And he is still faithful?"
"He has both of us and that's a handful, don't you think? And then there's Lexi!"
"What about Lexi?"
"Well she wants her papa to marry two other women as all good rich Muslims do. So she is looking for them as often as possible. And since she's quite often with our dear husband she would know it and tell us the good news immediately…"
That got Josephine to laugh.
"I suppose that she never has anything to report?"
"Not a word, he's totally impervious to other women's charms." He smile decreased and a hint of worry shadowed her face. "Being a Muslim in Croatia helps, thanks to the Ottoman occupation till a few years ago. You must know that a lot of Christians were robbed and expelled by Turkish officials, Muslims aren't well liked there and even if he is brawny and good looking, the local women are shyer than most with him. Since a certain episode with a group of drunk youths who tried to get at him, the population is more than a little scared of him. But there's no doubt that they respect him as much as Fitzwilliam and Gérault. But to give you a straight answer: yes, he's faithful and, what's really important, satisfied with his marital situation."
"Well, mine is not faithful at all and if he really has inherited this stuff because of our love making it won't help matters at all. He always was a randy devil and the only reason he's not changing his bed mate every night is because he's too busy ruling to spend a lot of time looking for women to seduce. But there are always bitches who know how to come into his immediate vicinity and to convince him to spend a few moments with them. I don't understand why they do it; he never even remembers their names. As he says: 'what about it? They want to be fucked, so I'll fuck them and I can go on to the next important point in my schedule!' It's rather distressing."
She made a face.
"He's not a very good lover to say the truth, he's always storming the affair, as if he had better things awaiting him afterwards. Even with me it's always a hurried and hustled affair…" She winked at Jane. "You wouldn't lend me your perfect lover for a night or two, dear; I'd like to be loved like you and Maureen once in my life."
Seeing Jane's shocked face made her day.
–oOo–
"I'm honored but I must decline! I know that Napoleon is a horny bastard but I won't give him any more reason to be angry with me."
"You're a coward like all the others…" grumbled Josephine. "Since I'm married it's always the answer I get."
"Well I could always give him a few tips about how to satisfy his wife, if you really are frustrated by his love making. It seems that Chinese Tao Teaching is an overwhelming head start when it comes to give women a satisfying love life."
"He would be even angrier if you hint at his sexual inadequacies."
"Well I'm perhaps a coward but I'm also a braggart of the worst kind. I could, next time we meet be a little more precise about certain matters."
"He hates it when men brag about their successes… Better not!"
"Well then there is nothing I can do for you, madame Bonaparte. Apart from…"
He looked at her and smiled his most mischievous smile.
"I do believe I have a way to help you and all those others poor occidental women whose men are abysmally bad lovers." He brushed a kiss on Josephine's fingers and went to the door of the lounge.
"I have urgent business…"
–oOo–
"Josephine asked you?" There was a wagon load of doubts in Jane's tone.
"Well she didn't really ask but she hinted that she would have been very agreeably satisfied if there could be some way to help frustrated wives."
"God that was the most convoluted sentence I ever heard you saying. What exactly did she ask?"
"I'm a gentleman I can't really speak of these matters with another woman, even if that other woman is my beloved wife and…"
"She asked you to sleep with her" shouted Jane. "That's what she asked. I had already refused to lend you to her and she went straight to ask you. I believed her my friend!"
"Which she is without a doubt since she asked your permission. Only friends do that."
"But I refused!"
"So did I and everything's perfect since we agree on that important point."
Jane was visibly flabbergasted and he went to embrace her.
"I never lied to you about Josephine and Napoleon's marriage. They always were a lot more innovative in… Hmm. …social relations than most other couples in the world. You can't blame her to be herself, love."
"But you are my husband…"
"And since you clearly bragged about my skills in bed, fair game for a huntress of her skill."
"Napoleon never made a pass at me…"
"He knew I would skin him alive if he tried anything of the sort" said d'Arcy with a smile on his lips and a threat in his eyes.
That placated her much better than any compliment.
"You're not a kind man, husband mine…"
"Never said I was, beloved wife, but you are the kindest woman I know and since are also the most faithful wife in the world, I will fight each and any idiot who tries to make a pass at you." He looked her in the eyes. "Or, for that matter, at Maureen." He winked at her. "We Muslims are renowned to be possessive bastards."
"That you are" said Jane while stretching herself to get near his lips. "But, just right now I'm a little at loss about the extent of your possessiveness."
"Need a reminder?"
"Absolutely…"
–oOo–
"You're going to write a book?"
"No, you are going to find a manuscript written by you first husband…" said d'Arcy while playing with his wife's golden hair. He wasn't sure but it seemed brighter today, probably because they were lying in their bed, bathed in September's sun light. "And it will help women all around the world to be, at last loved correctly…"
"How will you name it? Where do you want to publish?"
"It won't have a title and it won't be published. What I want is for it to be sold under the counter. The readers will find the name, be it 'd'Arcy's great sexual secrets' or 'd'Arcy's secrets to pleasing a woman'. If I want that every boy in the world has a copy of the book it must be a 'secret' and an adventure to get it and it must be for cheap so they can all get an exemplary but not too cheap to show the worth of the message included…"
He looked at his wife.
"And it will be fun to write. Will you be my editor?"
There was a noise and Maureen appeared in the door. Soon she was inside and quickly closing the door.
"You're doing it in daylight now…"
"I needed a few reminders" smiled Jane.
"And I was eager to answer to my wife's questions…" said d'Arcy while winking at his second wife.
"Had I known that it was question time, I would have come sooner!"
"You're not too late" teased Jane. "It seems that your appearance has awoken certain parts of our husband's body…"
"Indeed" said Maureen while beginning to undress. "And Impressing parts they are. Am I wrong or is he today particularly exciting."
"You are not wrong" agreed Jane. "His stamina is quite inspiring by daylight…"
"Let's get inspired then" whispered Maureen while joining her husband and her sister.
–oOo–