Nila's Babies

by Jac Simensen

  “I thought I’d temporarily escaped neck-ties and jackets. Castle Hill Inn’s the final bastion of blue-blooded snobbishness in the area.”

  “Don’t fuss. You look elegant and sophisticated, even if your khakis are a bit tatty.”

  Gordon grinned sheepishly. “Want to see my silent protest to overbearing formality?”

  “Your what?”

  Gordon pulled up on the side of his trouser leg, revealing penny loafers and bare ankles. “No socks!”

  She shook her head. “Gordy, you can be so infantile. The umbrella’s on the back seat of the car.”

  Sally emerged from the nursery. Nila turned to her. “Sally, we’ll be in the main dining room at Castle Hill,” she said. “I’ve left the number on the pad on the kitchen table. We’ll be back no later than ten.”

  Sally laughed. “My cousin manages the front desk. I know how to get hold of you if need be. Have fun and don’t worry about a thing.”

  Nila slid into the passenger seat. “Ouch! Did that a bit too fast.”

  “Your injury still hurting? Sure you’re ready for this?”

  “Not a problem. The doctor said that I can do anything I fancy—no restrictions. The internal stitches aren’t quite dissolved and pinch a wee bit when I stretch or bend quickly, but I’m just fine.”

  Gordon turned out of the driveway, onto the main road. They drove in silence for a few minutes.

  “Gordy, do you have a specific date yet when you’ll be returning home? It’s just that I need to call my sister quite soon and book my air ticket. She gets a very special rate for me. It’s a bit of a fiddle—I have to give her a few weeks’ notice.”

  Gordon tightened his grip on the wheel. “I thought that we’d discuss our plans over dinner. But now’s as good a time as any, if that’s all right with you?”

  Nila was puzzled. “Of course. Any time you wish.”

  Gordon took a deep breath. This was not at all how he had planned to start the conversation. He glanced over at her; she was looking directly at him. “Well, you see—it’s like this. While you were in the hospital, the twins and I had a very serious conversation and came to several important decisions.”

  She smiled. “Oh, did you now?”

  “Yes, and some of our decisions concern you.”

  “Do tell.”

  “First of all, the babies and I are not going home. We decided that we are already home. As they both pointed out, they’ve lived here for much of their lives and wouldn’t want to leave the warmth and the sun for some place unknown. I had to agree—made sense to me. I’ve arranged with Duncan to start up a law practice here—not in Castle Key but in a nearby town. Also, I think we’ll need to build, or buy, a new house—a proper family house.”

  “Not on the beach?” she asked, interrupting him.

  He bit his lip. “I think in a neighborhood where the girls can have regular friends and go to good schools—but we’ll keep the beach house, of course, for weekends and holidays.”

  “Oh, I see,” she said rather flatly. “When did you organize all of this?”

  “Just in the last few weeks.”

  She nodded. “I see,” she said again.

  He downshifted before a curve and then glanced at her. Her expression was neutral. “There’s more.” Gordon felt his mouth grow dry; it seemed his tongue had doubled in size. “The girls told me they deeply loved you and wanted you to be with them always. They said they want you to love and protect them, forever.”

  Nila chuckled. “Which one of them said that?”

  “It was Janna, of course—but then Julie added that she felt the same way.”

  “And what did you say?”

  “Well, I told them that could only happen if we were a family—if you and I were to marry. I explained to them that I’ve fallen in love with you and intended to propose to you tonight over dinner. But I cautioned them that it would be quite possible that you might not feel the same about me. I mean, I know that you love them but...?”

  Nila swiveled in her seat toward him. “Are we almost there?”

  He was puzzled by her question. “Just a few minutes away. Why?”

  “I just wondered how long I had to decide. Let me make sure I understand. You and the girls are going to stay in Florida. You’re going to set up a law practice and build a family home—probably not on the beach, but keep the beach house as well?”

  He nodded. “I thought that maybe you’d like to redecorate the beach house, put in air conditioning, a modern kitchen, and...”

  Nila shook her head. “One thing at a time. You want me to marry you so that I can be the twins’ mother?”

  “No—that’s not it at all. I want to marry you because I’ve fallen in love with you and want to be with you for the rest of my life.”

  Nila frowned. “You’re sure it’s me that you love? You’re not looking for a mother for the girls and a replacement for Karen?”

  “Nila, I want to love you, adore you, protect you, and spoil you forever. I know that since we’ve only known each other for a few months, my feelings may seem kinda crazy but when I considered my emotions carefully, I had a full-fledged panic attack thinking about us separating—you leaving me and flying back to England. So I stopped thinking and decided to go with my heart. You see? That’s what I’m learning from you.”

  “Gordy, you’re daft,” she said with a smile.

  “I was never looking for a replacement for Karen. I wasn’t looking for anyone—not even a certified nanny. I planned on being on my own with the girls for several years. I would go back to Boston, throw myself into my work, spend evenings, weekends, and holidays with the twins, teach them to swim, ski, and do homework. It sounded like a good plan. Then I started learning from you and began to ask myself some questions.”

  Nila frowned. “I don’t understand. What could you possibly have learned from me?”

  “Mainly to get off the agenda.”

  “The agenda?”

  “Uh huh. Since I was a young boy, I’ve been on an agenda. First, it was following all the steps necessary to get into my grandfather’s prep school, then Amherst, Harvard Law, and finally making partner in the firm—haven’t done that yet. Karen had an agenda as well—hers was a Ph.D. and, eventually, a career as a professor. What I discovered—what I’ve learned from you—is that if you always follow an agenda you stuff your real life in between the agenda items, where it can easily get lost.”

  Nila interrupted. “I’m not sure what this has to do with me.”

  “I’ve watched when you get up with the first light and take your tea outside to the lanai.”

  “It’s coffee, actually—I don’t like hot tea.”

  Gordon shrugged. “Coffee, then. I watch you sitting on the tall chair or on the step and I’m sure I can read your mind. You’re thinking about the light, the cool of the morning, the gull cries, the osprey’s scream, or the wind in the palms. That’s all you’re doing. You’re not thinking about how the weather will affect your plans for the day. You’re not wondering if the pool needs more chemicals, or if you left the car without any gas—which you did!”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t notice.”

  “Exactly my point. That’s how you do everything. You take pleasure in the moment, not in planning for the future. That’s what I’m learning from you—to love each moment.”

  Nila was perplexed. “You’re right. That is true about me, but no one’s ever thought that was a positive thing. Mum and teachers were always on to me for not having focus, or goals. I couldn’t be bothered. It’s most confusing that you’d want a scatterbrain for a wife. What else do you like about me?”

  “I made a list of all the things I love about you—your smile and your beautiful, sexy body are at the top of the list, of course. And I’ve just added that provocative dress. I could recite the whole list for you—however, it’s pretty long, and since that’s the hotel ahead, I’d have to talk very fast.”

  Nila shook her head. “Gordy, yo
u’re impossible. Everything you do involves a list, an analysis, or a carefully worded opinion.”

  Gordon frowned. “You don’t wanna see the list?”

  Nila’s bright laughter filled the car. “Of course, I wanna see the list. More precisely, I want you to read it to me—on bended knee would be appropriate.”

  “Does that mean you might say yes?”

  “You know that I love Julie and Janna. As for you, Gordon Hale, I think that there’s a chance that I could fall for you, as well. As the pitchmen say on American TV, ‘Wait—there’s more! Three for the price of two.’” She put her hand on his knee. “I do have a concern, though.”

  Gordon turned into the parking lot. “Oh? What’s that?”

  “It’s a bit delicate, me having a proper upbringing and all, but—well—we haven’t done any of the things that lovers do. We’ve never been on a date until tonight. We’ve never made love or even kissed. It seems like you’ve got it all backward, you telling me that you love me first.”

  Gordon pulled to a stop, turned off the ignition, exited the old Buick, and walked to the passenger side. He opened the door, and Nila stepped onto the crushed-shell drive. “Well,” he said. “This is our first date, and there’s no reason why we can’t promptly address your other concerns afterward. Can you think of a reason?”

  Nila put her arms around his neck and kissed him—a long, lingering kiss. She held both his hands and stepped back. “That’s number two,” she said with a mischievous grin.

  14

  Gordon had a serious erection. His penis had begun to engorge shortly after he dropped Sally off at her home, when he started imagining Nila waiting for him, naked, in his bed.

  It had been a long time—eight months—since Karen had summoned up the strength for their final act of lovemaking. He considered the next morning to be the beginning of her downhill slide to blindness, then coma, and death.

  He’d had a wet dream the night he saw Nila standing naked from the waist down at the changing table in the nursery. He’d often mentally removed her bikini while she sunbathed by the pool or the beach—and since he’d seen her sweet, shaved vulva, and bare, perky breast, his sexual fantasies had become intense.

  He noticed he was going over the speed limit and glanced at the speedometer—he was going 50 in a 30 mph zone. He hit the brake and slowed to 35. Although he was sure he was under the blood-alcohol limit, he didn’t like the idea of explaining the circumstances under which he’d quaffed champagne at dinner to a suspicious deputy sheriff.

  Early in the meal, Nila had begun to tease. She held a lock of her long hair between her thumb and forefinger and repeatedly stroked her cheek and lips with it. She sipped champagne from a crystal flute and then provocatively gathered the drops that remained on her full lips with the tip of her pink tongue. She slid her foot out of a Moroccan sandal and stroked Gordon’s ankle with her bare toes. “No socks,” was all she said.

  When the waiter brought the dessert menus, she had left her menu unopened on the table. She fixed her eyes on Gordon. “Later,” she purred, “at home.”

  Gordon was in such a hurry to leave that the waiter had to follow him to the parking lot to return his American Express card.

  The halogen floodlights nearly blinded him as he turned into the drive. He’d had the lights and a security system installed before Nila came home from the hospital. “Came home”—he loved the sound of that phrase. This would be her home, his home, and the twins’ home: a real home once again, at least until they decided where to build.

  He punched in the security code, opened the door, switched off the bright lights, and then reactivated the system. Soft music spilled from the iPhone docking station in the den. It was playing an oldie: “Nights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues. He looked down; the bulge in his trousers was obvious.

  Nila wasn’t in his bed, but the bedspread was folded, lying neatly on a chair, and the sheets had been turned down. He removed his shirt and trousers and draped them over the back of the chair, slid out of his jockey shorts, and then got into bed.

  He didn’t hear her enter the room. He smelled her scent before he saw her—it was a fragrant blend of sunscreen, soap, and conditioner, mixed with her natural body oils. She stood in the doorway that led from the bath in a pale-yellow nightdress, backlit by the night-light. The nightdress was suspended by a chain of tiny, fabric flower buds that curled around her neck. The hem ended at the top of her thighs, in a similar flower-bud border. Her long hair fell over her shoulders and covered her breasts. She spread her arms. “You approve?” she asked.

  Gordon was speechless. He smiled and shook his head from side to side. “My God, you’re beautiful!” was all he could say.

  “I bought it the same place I got the dress. Woman’s intuition told me that I might need something sexy sooner rather than later.”

  Gordon grinned. “It’s perfect.”

  Nila coquettishly tilted her head to one side and pushed back her hair. “If you like the wrapper, let’s see what you think of the candy.” She reached behind her neck, released the clasp, and the nightdress fell to the floor with a silken rustle.

  The dark nipples of her medium-size breasts were teasingly erect. Her long, well-formed legs led to a bare vulva, her labia vertically mimicking the sensuous pout on her mouth.

  Gordon raised himself on one arm. “You’re magnificent—exactly as I’d fantasized!”

  “Move over,” Nila replied with a grin. “Let’s see what you’ve got hiding under the covers.” Nila put one knee on the bed and started to pull back the sheet.

  “What’s that?” Gordon playfully poked low on her belly with his index finger. “A tattoo?”

  The tiny image a few inches above her vulva was faded and barely visible.

  “That’s my apparition. She protects me from those who might injure me. My grandmother put her there with a needle when I was a child, when we lived in Ghana. It’s a cat, or maybe even a tiger. See, you can just make out the whiskers. I used to see the outline quite clearly, but now it’s faded and nearly gone. Grandmother didn’t tell Mum she was going to tattoo me and it was the last straw—the thing that made Mum take Della and me away from Ghana, away from Dad, and move back to England.”

  Gordon pulled back the covers and put his arms around her neck. “Got any other surprises?”

  She climbed into the bed and pressed down on top of him. “You have all night to find out.”

  ~*~

  Gordon heard a loud banging noise. He thought he was dreaming. He’d heard Nila get up to go to the twins sometime in the middle of the night, but he’d gone back to sleep before she returned to bed. That was before she decided to wake him. He’d spent the next hour feverishly revisiting the crevices and contours of her soft body.

  He heard the noise again—it wasn’t a dream. Someone was pounding on the kitchen screen door. He gently moved Nila’s hand from his shoulder. She didn’t stir. He looked at the bedside alarm clock; the digital display read 6:42. He slid from the bed so as not to wake her and looked back at her naked body. She lay on her side, her face toward him, her dark hair framing her face. God, she’s beautiful, he thought. He longed to reach out to stroke her magnificent, bare butt, but the knocking resumed.

  Gordon found bathing trunks on top of the hamper of soiled clothes and pulled them over his still somewhat engorged, and especially sensitive, penis.

  Deputy McGill had his hand raised to rap on the screen door again when Gordon opened the main door.

  “Sorry to wake you, Mr. Hale. I need to speak with you—it’s urgent.”

  Gordon unlatched the screen door. “Oh, it’s really that urgent? Come on in, Officer; I’ll put on some coffee.”

  “None for me, thanks,” McGill responded. “I’m finishing my shift and about to go home.”

  “Suit yourself.” Gordon turned and shuffled toward the coffeemaker.

  The deputy stood behind a kitchen chair with his hands grasping the chair’s back. “I’ll co
me right to the point, Mr. Hale. Have you or Miss Rawlings heard from anyone regarding Margaret Cartwright—her family, or anyone else?”

  Gordon turned and sleepily shook his head. “No, no one. What’s this about?”

  The deputy did not answer his question. “How about Miss Rawlings? You told us that Margaret Cartwright’s younger sister was a friend of Miss Rawlings. Has she called Miss Rawlings?”

  “I’m sure she hasn’t. Nila would have said something.”

  The deputy looked uncomfortable. “Would you mind asking Miss Rawlings if she’s had a call? It’s very important.”

  Gordon nodded toward the bedroom. “I think she’s still sleeping. We had a late night.”

  “Would you please check, Mr. Hale? I wouldn’t barge in on you like this if it weren’t urgent.”

  Gordon was both irritated and puzzled.

  “Let me start the coffee and then I’ll see if she’s up.”

  ~*~

  Gordon entered the bedroom and heard the toilet flush in the adjoining bathroom. Nila was washing her hands when he entered the bathroom. She was naked, with her long hair thrown back over her shoulders. His penis involuntarily throbbed when he looked at her breasts in the mirrors above the twin sinks. “How are you this morning, sex goddess?” he said to her image in the mirror.

  She flashed a grin. “I’m just a wee bit knackered, pleasantly so. Let me brush my teeth and I’ll meet you back in bed. The twins won’t likely be up for another hour; we can try something different.” She turned from the mirror to face him. “Won’t be a tick.”

  At first, Gordon had been taken aback by Nila’s enthusiastic approach to sex—it seemed in direct contrast to her demure personality. He put his hand on her hip and lightly kissed her cheek. “Throw something on, the deputy sheriff’s waiting in the kitchen; he wants to talk with us about Maggie.”

  “Maggie? What about Maggie?”

  He shrugged. “He’s being mysterious. He asked me if Maggie’s sister had called you. She didn’t, did she?”

  Nila shook her head. She turned back to the sink. “I’ll be right there. Just give me a minute.”