CHAPTER 6 – TILL HIS DEATH DO US PART
(Borderline M: Mature: sexual references)
June 3rd, the calendar read. Howard was pacing around his apartment. He had cleaned it so many times that it shone. He had filled the refrigerator till it was stuffed full. His clothes were cleaned and pressed, and he had also washed the few dresses that Patty had left in his closet.
Still, he was worried. What if Patty had changed her mind since he had talked to her back in December? He couldn't bear it if she had. If she had, he was going to try to find a new place to live. Then he became worried about something else – what if his transportation to Haji's Chambers couldn't take him? Jeannie was his only way over there, or so he thought.
Howard picked up his address book and looked up the Nelson phone number in Houston. "Jeannie? It's Howard – Howard Borden…. Oh, I'm sorry, Janae, can I talk to your mother? Thanks." He waited for Janae to put her mother on. The two women had phone voices that sounded exactly alike.
Talking to Jeannie, she said that both she and Tony would come and get him the next morning. Tony was even taking the day off work. Howard paced the apartment for the rest of the day.
True to their word, Jeannie and Tony blinked into Howard's apartment at 9:00 on the morning of Monday, June 4th. Jeannie was in her djinn outfit, and Tony was in his full dress blues for Air Force. Howard looked down at himself. "Am I dressed all right?" He had put on one of the new dark grey Brooks Brothers suits that Patty had blinked up for him over a year before. He'd lost a little weight and the pants hung on him. But the light grey dress shirt and the deep blue silk tie made him look distinguished.
"You look wonderful, Howard. I am sure that Patna will fall in love with you again," Jeannie said, confidently.
Tony nodded. "You've lost a little weight. How'd you do it?" Tony was fighting a constant battle with his weight, and a flight he was to take in 1991 rode on his weight loss.
Howard shook his head. "I don't know. Does it look bad?"
"No, I'm just wondering how you did it – I need to lose another 10 pounds," Tony said. Jeannie whispered something to him. Aloud, he added, "Oh, never mind." It was probably depression that had caused the weight loss, Jeannie had suggested.
The three landed outside of Haji's Chambers, inside his castle, at the appointed hour of 9:30 a.m. Howard knocked tentatively, feeling in mixed emotions of fear and excitement. One of Haji's assistants opened the door. "Right on time, very punctual," he stated. "Haji, your 9:30 appointment?"
Jeannie dropped to a bow on her knees at Haji's feet. Tony did a slight bow from the waist, ever uncomfortable, so Howard followed suit. Haji said something in Persian, and Jeannie stood.
"You have come for your genie?" Haji asked Howard.
"Yes, sir."
"You have been very faithful to her. I have admired that. Many men would not have stayed celibate."
"I love her. She is going to be my wife, if she will have me," Howard phrased it in the way that Tony had suggested.
"Yes. If SHE still desires that," Haji stated. He rose from his chair, went to the shelf that Howard had been eyeing since walking into the room, and pulled a very dusty red and gold bottle from it. Howard reached for the bottle, but Haji handed it to his assistant instead. "This bottle has not been dusted in a year. Please clean it." The assistant took the bottle, blinked, the dust flew off, and the bottle was handed back to Haji. "Thank you."
Jeannie coughed, as did Tony, when the dust flew in their direction. "Haji, you must get someone to dust your shelves a little more often," Jeannie told him.
Haji smiled. "My castle is not fastidious enough for you, my dear?"
Tony gave a wry smile. "My wife keeps our house so that it can pass the white-glove test." Howard grinned, understanding that from American television commercials. Haji didn't.
Howard was impatient. He wanted that bottle, and it was all he could do to keep from snatching it away from Haji. But he knew he couldn't do that. "Um….Haji….may I…"
Haji loved prolonging the suspense and the agony, and was quite good at it. "Oh, was there something you desired, Master Borden?"
For once, Howard had the right answer. "Yes, sir, I wish for my bottle back, please!"
"No, that is not how we shall do this. I shall release the genie. If she goes into your arms when she is released, she is yours. If she does not, she becomes mine and I shall give her to another master. Is that clear?"
"As daylight, sir."
Howard, Tony and Jeannie all watched as Haji took the stopper off the red-and-gold bottle and summoned out his genie. "Genie Patna, smoke out!" he said, and placed the bottle on a small table. Red and gold smoke billowed from the bottle, but it was a few minutes before they saw the human shape of Patna al Basrah emerge from the smoke. She looked at Haji, Jeannie Nelson, Tony Nelson, and then … she threw herself into the waiting arms of Master Howard Borden.
"MASTER HOWARD!" She cried, throwing her arms around his waist and smashing herself against him.
"Patty!" The two embraced in a tight hug. Jeannie cried and didn't hide it, tears of joy. Tony grinned. Haji turned his back, as did the assistants. That was good, as Howard kissed his bride-to-be. "Oh, Patty, I missed you so much," he whispered in her ear after kissing her lovingly and tenderly, tasting the lips he had not tasted in a year. "I love you. Do you still want to marry me?"
"I still love you, and want to marry you, YES." She showed him that his ring was still on her human form's finger. They kissed again, and then turned to Haji. When they spoke, Haji faced them. "Haji, we still wish to be married. As soon as possible," Patty told him.
"Master Borden?"
"Whenever you can marry us, we'd like that. We'll do it in America when we can."
Haji called his assistants, and soon there were blinks going on all over the place. "Patna – did you wish for your father to be a part of this?"
"My father!" Patty questioned.
"You never introduced me, Patty, but he found me back in December. Don't you think it would be a good idea to invite your daddy?" Howard told her. Patty looked quite ashamed.
"I am sorry, Master Howard. My father and I had a big argument, many years ago, over my behavior at Djinn Training. We never resolved it," Patty explained.
"You need to. Family is very important," Howard had firm family values. That immediately impressed Haji. "If Howie could be at this one, I'd want him here, but Jeannie says he can't be."
"I suppose my father should be invited," Patty said, reluctantly and somewhat glumly. One of Haji's assistants popped out.
An hour later, a small group assembled in a chamber elsewhere in old Baghdad: Haji, Asmire, some of Haji's assistants, Howard, Patty, Tony, Jeannie, and Najal. The genies assisted Howard and Tony in putting on the strange garb, by blink, before the wedding ceremony began, while all the djinn blinked on their own garb and set up the room.
It was a ceremony that Tony was familiar with – he had done this twice, with Jeannie. For Howard, it was a strange sensation. Jeannie stood up with Patna, and Tony for Howard, feeding him the lines in Persian that he needed and had never had the opportunity to learn. Najal had made up with his daughter and was there for her, as well, saying, "Oh, I wish your mother could be here" over and over again until Haji exasperatingly told him, "If Allah wishes for her to see this, she will." The only similarity to this ceremony and an American human ceremony were the witnesses, and the token "seal it with a kiss" at the end. Howard hadn't been told what to expect so when Haji said in Persian, "kiss the bride", he didn't know what to do. Patty pulled him down towards her, by his neck, and kissed him soundly on the mouth.
The ceremony ended with the presentation of the Djinn Marriage Scroll to the groom. Patty told Howard, when he looked perplexed, "That means we are married." His grin went from one room to the next. "But we still should do this in America, so our marriage is recognized there." She smiled at him, he grinned back, and they grabbed each other in a hug again. She whispered, "Let us go to our apartment. I wish to be in your bed now." He nodded, she blinked, and they landed in the Lake Shore Drive apartment, still in each other's arms. Jeannie and Tony watched, glad that it worked out so well for the happy couple, hopeful that Patty understood what it would be like to be married to an airline co-pilot 28 years older than she. They blinked back to Houston, leaving Najal to wonder about his daughter's marriage, and Haji and his crew to blink up the pieces.
Released from Howard's arms right after they landed back in the apartment, Patty looked around. Howard took her bottle, which had been stuck in his hand just before Patty blinked them from Baghdad, and placed it in its rightful place on the dresser in the bedroom. Patty went through the kitchen, the living room, into the bathroom, and then into the bedroom. She stood and stared at the bed. Howard looked at her.
"Honey, if there's something you want to change, go ahead. The apartment needs a woman's touch."
She nodded, looking back up at Howard, questioningly.
"Your daddy said you might like a house – a real house," Howard told her.
"I am comfortable here – for now – but there is no room for a baby, here," she told him. "Where do Howie and the new baby stay, when they're here?"
"They've never been here. I go there."
"If I have a baby, will we get a new apartment or a house?"
"You betcha."
Patty looked at him and spoke very low and sexily, "I am in my fertile cycle right now."
"Ooh! Let's go make a baby. We'll give my grandson an uncle or aunt that he can play with." Howard had spent some time in the last year, figuring out the relationship between his possible second child and his grandson.
They made sweet love in Howard's bed that night, making it officially Howard's and Patty's bed. They laid together, both naked with Patty's legs wrapped around Howard as he ravished her up and down her body with his tongue. Between tastes, he whispered to her, "I dreamed a lot about doing this, while you were gone."
"I did, too, Howard. Love me, please."
"I do love you. But we're going to take our time." His fingers ran over her lithe body, giving her tingling pleasure all over but particularly where her legs met. She kissed him, and then ran her lips and tongue all over him. She licked a little in that special place, but then he told her, "We'll save that for later." He laid her back and went to enter her.
"Master – you forgot something."
"What?"
"One of those little packets?"
"No, sweet thing. I'm going to make you a mother on our wedding night, if I can. Remember? If I put one of those on, you won't be a mother."
It seemed to excite her more, the thought of becoming a mother. She was 25, and it was time. "Please, Howard!" she begged him, moving her hips around.
"Yes, love," he told her, and kissed her as he entered her for the first time in a little over a year. It hurt a little for her, but it was ecstasy to him, celibate for so long. As he moved within her, though, the pain eased and the exquisite feel began to come through. He felt different to her without one of those latex things, and it seemed to give him more freedom to move around. "I'm not afraid that it will fall off when it's not there," he seemed to read her thoughts. "I love you so much, Patty."
"Oh, Howard, I love YOU!" she replied back, meeting his strokes perfectly. He could feel her urges building within her, and moved around and around to give her the sensation that she needed, and then side to side. "Oh! OH!" She burst forth like a firework, her entire body shuddering. Her femaleness grabbed at him and suddenly he felt something he had never felt before – the milking of his arousal, and the dance of their organs that went on for almost five minutes, totally exhausting him.
"What WAS that!" Howard exclaimed and questioned when he had finally caught his breath. "Did that just signal that we made a baby? Genies can feel that?"
Patty, happy and content, took her husband in her arms. "No, sweetheart. That was something Jeannie told me about. It is a special sort of orgasm that my body brings yours to when there is no barrier present like a condom. It is very fulfilling, is it not?" She sighed and the two kissed.
"Patty – I won't hide this from you – I've been having sex with girls since I was 16 years old. I've NEVER felt anything like THAT!" Howard never wanted to use a condom again with Patty, even after she had a baby, if that was the result.
"Jeannie said that I should use a diaphragm if I want to prevent babies, not condoms. It was very difficult for her to talk to me about this, but she felt it was necessary."
Two months later, Howard came home from a weeklong trip one morning to find his wife in the bathroom, throwing up. Jeannie was in the living room of the apartment, sitting at the sofa reading a Genie Journal.
"Welcome home, Master Howard," Jeannie told him. "Your wife is in there. I shall go now."
"Why are you here?" Howard worried.
"She needed a little support, and came to get me. I did not think she was ever going to get there – she missed my house four times," Jeannie said. "But that is to be expected." She put an emphasis on the word "expected." They heard the sounds of the toilet flushing. "I shall be going. Tell Patty that I am in Houston if she needs me and to USE the PHONE!" Jeannie blinked out.
"Patty? Honey, what's going on?" Howard went into the bedroom.
Patty came out of the bathroom, wearing her red and gold pajamas and looking quite pale. "Oh – Master – you are home!" Howard didn't know if her expression was of fear or sadness.
"Are you all right?"
"I am fine – or at least, I will be back to normal in perhaps 7 months or so," Patty said, tiredly.
"But what was Jeannie doing here?" He took her around one shoulder and walked her into the living room.
Patty shrugged and plopped down on the sofa, obviously exhausted. "I had to go see Dr Ahmann, and I could not get there under my own power. I barely made it to Houston."
"She just said you missed her house four times. Patty – tell me – what's WRONG?"
She smiled up at him, "Nothing – Daddy."
Howard looked around. "I don't see Najal. What are you talking about?"
"My FATHER is not here, but there IS a daddy in this room!" Patty thought that sometimes Howard could be denser than she could take.
"Where?"
She blinked, and this time it worked – he landed next to her on the sofa. "Sitting right next to me is a man who is going to be a daddy again next March. Jeannie does not know how you are going to feel when you are 72 and graduating your child from high school, but that is the way it will be."
Howard FINALLY "got" it. "A daddy? I'm going to be a daddy again? Nicholas is going to have an uncle or an aunt? Howie's going to have a little brother or sister, finally, after 26 years?" He threw his arms around Patty, kissed her, then got up and almost danced around the room. "Oh, I've got to call work! I'm not going in tomorrow!"
"Oh, yes, you are! You will keep to your normal schedule, Master Daddy! You will come and go as you always have! You cannot get me to and from Dr Ahmann's office in old Baghdad anyway – Jeannie or my father will have to do that."
"Dr Ahmann?"
"The djinn doctor. He rolled his eyes. This will be the 5th baby of a human father. Jeannie had two, her sister has one, a genie in Canada has one, and now me. To say that Dr Ahmann is not thrilled is an understatement. He says it is an epidemic."
Howard turned Patty so she would lean on him, spoon position. He rubbed her abdomen. "Oh, little baby. Daddy loves you, and I think your mommy is going to love you too."
"Howard – he or she is yours – of course I love the baby." Her hand joined his to rub.
"What is – what is genie pregnancy like?"
"Jeannie and Kashi – that is her sister – both said it is like human, but a little different. Master Daddy – I may lose my powers completely. They have already gone erratic."
"When do we know if the baby is a genie?" Before they had ever gone to see Haji, Patty had explained to Howard about babies between djinn and humans. She wanted him to know that it was a toss-up, whether a baby would be a djinn or a human. Howard didn't really care what the baby was…boy or girl, djinn or human.
"After the baby is born, if or when he ever shows powers - Kashi's son is human – Robert never showed any powers. Jeannie has a strong one, and a weak one. Dr Ahmann says that the Canadian's son is also human."