by Jac Simensen
“Aaaggh!” DiDi cried out and threw down the phone, as bright-red blood began to flow from her likely broken nose. She raised her hands to her face and tore off the eyeglass frames that had snapped into two pieces from the impact of Janna’s knee. One end of DiDi’s sharp, silver nose piercing had been driven into her upper lip, adding to the copious blood flow. She cried out again when she saw her hands covered with blood.
After the impact with DiDi’s face, Janna rolled onto her hands and knees and quickly scooted across the room to Julie’s side. DiDi’s nose piercing had punctured Janna’s knee and the resulting small gash left blood smears across the carpet.
Just as Julie put her arm around Janna’s shoulders, Mary opened the door and began to call out a greeting, which she stifled when she saw DiDi’s blood-covered face and the bloody handprint she’d left on the carpet when she raised herself to a sitting position against the couch.
“What in hell!” Mary shouted.
“They attacked me,” DiDi shrieked. “The monsters jumped on my face!”
Mary looked across the room, and—after quickly deciding that the twins were in no immediate danger—dropped to her knees next to the blubbering young woman.
“I can’t see,” DiDi squealed. “It’s my left eye—I’m blind!”
DiDi was a mess. Her damaged nose was swollen and already beginning to bruise. The silver, bone-shaped piercing had been torn from her septum, and the end was stuck in her upper lip. A sharp edge of the broken eyeglass frame had cut into the soft flesh to the side of her left eye. The blood that flowed from her nose had already begun to clot, and globs of red mucus hung from her nostrils and gathered on her lips.
Mary stood. “Don’t try to wipe your face. Just stay still until I get a wet towel and clean you up.”
As Mary moved to the bathroom, the twins turned their gaze from the blood-covered DiDi to each other. They both grinned, and then burst into excited squeals of laughter.
25
Nila was frustrated. “He’s not answering. I’ve tried his cell, the landline, and even the car phone. He always has his cell turned on—I can’t understand why I can’t get hold of him.”
Della shrugged. “It isn’t really all that important, is it? You told me the doctor said there’s nothing wrong with Janna. It’s just a superficial puncture—no stitches and likely not even a scar. All he did was apply some antibiotic cream and a plaster—isn’t that what you said?”
“Band-Aid,” Nila corrected. “They call ’em Band-Aids, not plasters. But that’s not the point! Janna is Gordy’s daughter and I’m responsible for her safety. I’m not the mum yet. He needs to know Janna was injured—even though it wasn’t serious.”
“Maybe he drove up to Tampa early. Maybe his cell ran out of charge—that’s happened to me often enough.”
“If Gordy were driving, he’d answer the car phone—that seldom gets used, but never runs down.”
“You texted him?”
“Uh huh, but no response. It’s just not like him to be out of communication—that’s all.”
“Listen, Nila—surely there’s a reasonable explanation. You left messages for him to call back?”
“Of course. I’m sure he’ll call as soon as he gets a message; Gordy’s a very responsible parent. I need to tell him about the bruise on Janna’s foot, as well.”
Della looked puzzled. “Bruise?”
“I didn’t tell you? When the doctor was examining Janna’s leg, he discovered a tiny black mark on her right foot in the space just between her big toe and the next toe. It looked like the number 7. He said it was just a bruise and nothing to be concerned about. The babysitter’s face is a mess. Her nose and lip are swollen and they had to put a few stitches between her nostrils where the silver piercing was ripped out. But the good news is that her nose isn’t broken and in a few weeks, she should be back to normal—if normal is a possibility for a creature like her.”
Della smirked. “Have you and Mary sussed out what actually happened? That baby-minder was in quite a state when you all left for the hospital. She kept insisting that the twins attacked her.”
“She calmed down some after they gave her a sedative in the emergency room. What we’ve pieced together is that DiDi was lying on her back on the floor in front of the couch, talking on her cell and not paying any mind to the twins. It would seem that Janna crawled up onto the couch, lost her balance, and fell onto the girl’s face.” Nila began to sob. “It gave me quite a scare when we came in and saw all that blood on the couch and carpet, and no babies.”
Della embraced her sister and wiped the few tears from Nila’s cheek with her fingers. “Put it out of your mind. Mary handled the situation perfectly and your babies are just fine—they’ve both been fed and are sleeping. I’ve rung up room service and ordered a pizza and margaritas for the two of us—they’ll be here any minute. It’s been quite a day—a day of surprises. We should probably make an early night of it.”
Nila continued to tightly hold on to her sister. “Maybe you could sleep here tonight? The bed is certainly big enough for the two of us, and I’d rather not be alone.”
“And we could tell scary stories of witches and dragons, just like when we were wee tykes and shared that creaky four-poster bed in our gran’s spare room?”
Nila laughed and released her hold on Della’s body, but continued to clasp her hand. “We’ve had enough scary experiences for one day. Perhaps we could do our game—you remember, don’t you?”
“Mmm hmm,” Della replied with a grin. “But wouldn’t that be wicked, now that we’re grown women?”
“I don’t see why. After all, we are loving sisters.”
Della squeezed Nila’s hand. “Just like your babies.”
Nila nodded. “Just like my babies.”
~*~
The bedroom shimmered with dazzling morning sunshine—the intense light common to tropical regions and deserts. Gordon had gone to bed in the dark and failed to notice that the drapes weren’t drawn. He rolled from his stomach to his back, stretched, and then fumbled about on the bedside table, his fingers searching for the cell phone. It was early—the screen read 6:20.
Gordon had a headache. He was confused and ravenously hungry. He remembered reviewing Devon’s documents at the big house the previous afternoon: the amazing monitors, and huge palms in the great room. He remembered the lobster salad and the superb wine and the conversation with Devon. He remembered waking after dark in the hammock by the cottage pool, but couldn’t remember driving the Lincoln back to the beach cottage. “Really bad,” he said aloud as it came to him that he had been too drunk to drive. He continued thinking. I’m gonna have to reconsider drinking. Maybe I’m an alcoholic like Father and Mother. If I had left the property and driven out on the road, I could have really screwed up bad. He violently shook his head from side to side, making the pain in the back of his head worse. “Later,” he said aloud, “gotta concentrate on this friggin’ exam right now.”
He was about to return the phone to the night stand when he noticed that he’d had several messages. He immediately recognized the calling number—all were from Nila. The last call was at 10:35 the night before. He pressed the voicemail icon and lifted the phone to his ear. After retrieving the most recent message from the mailbox, he heard Nila’s distinctive accent and smiled. “Hi, it’s me again. I’ve been trying to reach you for several hours without success and am going to bed now. It’s been quite a day. Della is staying with me and the girls for the night. The thing is, there’s been a minor accident involving Janna. No need for concern—she’s just fine. She has a tiny wound from a fall off the couch in my suite. The doctor treated her with some antibiotic cream and a Band-Aid, so obviously, it wasn’t serious. Nevertheless, I feel so responsible for the girls’ welfare that I had to share this with you right away. There was so, so much more that happened today—things I need to tell you about. Mostly positive things—at least, I think they were positive. Please come and get us soon. I
love you very much and I’m feeling randy as hell tonight. Oh, best of luck with the exam, of course. We all love you. Wait—what was that? Oh, Della says she loves you, too. Night-night.” Nila made kissy noises, and then rang off.
Gordon’s immediate thought was to call Nila back. The twins usually woke with the sun and so Nila was likely to be awake, but she’d need time to get them and herself washed and dressed. He decided to take care of his own personal needs and then make the call. Like Nila, Gordon usually slept nude, and when he rolled from the bed, his penis rubbed against the cool, satin sheets. It was especially sensitive and the edges of the foreskin were irritated. He and Nila had made love yesterday morning before he left the hotel, but, with the babies asleep in their cribs in the same room, they’d been more restrained than usual. He was surprised at the extent of irritation on his foreskin. In the bathroom, he soaked a cotton ball in mouthwash, rolled back his foreskin and dabbed at the irritated areas. Gordon grimaced. From experience, he’d anticipated the alcohol’s sting and quickly pulled the foreskin back in place to minimize the discomfort.
He looked in the bathroom mirror and decided to shave. Gordon had a light beard, which was the same color as his sandy-blond hair, and didn’t shave every day. But, he reasoned, if he shaved this morning, he wouldn’t have to bother again until after the bar exam. He was about to turn on the bathtub shower but instead decided to use the outdoor shower by the pool. Showering naked, outdoors, in the sunshine and breeze, was one of the small hedonistic pleasures that Gordon had discovered during his early teen years at the beach house. He’d arise with the sun, before his mother could force him to put on a bathing suit, and then enjoy a soapy, masturbatory massage under the warm water. On occasion, he’d see girls in bathing suits having an early morning stroll on the beach, a hundred yards away, and then he’d fantasize that they were watching him and becoming wet with excitement.
Gordon returned to the bedroom and retrieved the phone from the pillow where he’d tossed it. The phone said 6:58—he was sure Nila and the girls would be up by now. She answered on the third ring.
“Hi!” Nila nearly shrieked. “I was just about to call you again. I’ve been quite worried about you. Called the house, your cell, and even the car, I did.”
“Sorry to worry you. After I got back from Miami, you’ll remember that I’d promised to look over Devon’s legal documents. When I finished, Devon insisted that I stay for a late lunch. Along with Hattie’s lobster salad, I drank several glasses of an exceptional white burgundy they offered. Afraid the wine really did me in. When I came back to the house, I decided to have a nap in the hammock out on the lanai. With lots of assistance from the wine, I’m afraid my nap turned into serious sleep and I never heard the phone, or cell from inside the house. I think all the driving the last two days, along with the two or three glasses of wine, finally got to me. When I woke it was dark and too late to call. You’re okay, and Janna’s okay?”
“Like I said in my message, all it took was a Band-Aid and some cream to patch her up. This morning, Julie pulled off Janna’s Band-Aid, and we discovered that the cut has just about healed.”
“She fell off the couch, you said?”
Nila replayed the adventures with DiDi, and Hubert’s surprise visit to the hotel. With Gordon’s frequent questions and Della’s in-the-background interruptions and additions, the stories took a while to tell.
“Good thing Della was there with you.”
“Mary, too. She cleaned up the babysitter and took her to the hospital with Janna and me. She is such a strong woman; I can better understand now how you depended on her when you were a child.”
Gordon chuckled. “And she’s raising her own two boys—I can tell you there’s been lots of blood and tears in that experience.”
“The ring,” Nila interrupted. “I need to tell you the rest of the story.”
“Oh, what about the ring?”
“As I said, it’s absolutely fantastic. The orange diamond glows as if there were some sort of fire inside. While I haven’t tried too hard, I haven’t been able to get the ring off my finger since I slid it on. I was thinking that if you agreed, perhaps we could make it my engagement ring. It’s beautiful and valuable and also we wouldn’t have to shop for a ring.”
“If that’s what you’d want, I don’t think I’d have any problem with you using your family ring as our engagement ring. That used to be a regular custom in the old days. Let’s talk about it when I get there, okay?”
“Fine. Milt and Mary are leaving on Thursday morning. Della’s flying out on a late afternoon flight, as well. Pity you won’t get to spend time with her.”
“Well, at least we got to meet. Now she won’t be a stranger when she comes back for the wedding. I like Della a lot; she’s like a smaller, fairer, more talkative version of you.”
Nila chuckled. “Considerably more talkative; I’d almost forgotten how she goes on. I love her dearly and it’s been such a joy to have her with me for a few days and to finally have her meet you and the girls. She thinks you’re handsome and wonderful and that the babies are the most clever, beautiful children in the world.”
Gordon laughed. “Della is clearly a young woman with excellent judgment. I’ve decided to drive to Tampa this afternoon and get settled in. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve done more than enough prep for this exam—I really don’t think it’ll be that difficult.”
“It takes two days, you said, the exam?”
“Wednesday is an essay and Thursday is a general overview common to most states’ bar exams. I’ve already taken the second part in Massachusetts and pulled some strings to wangle an exemption.”
“You sound quite relaxed.”
“I am. If the drive from Miami up to Tampa were shorter, I’d come join you today and then drive up from Miami.”
“Milt’s show starts this morning at eleven. I don’t think you’d want to sit through forty or fifty evening gowns and bridal dresses worn by emaciated, flat-chested models.”
“Right!—as I said, it’s a long drive. I’ll call you tonight when I get to Tampa and then again on Wednesday after the exam’s over.”
“So, you’ll come get us on Thursday?”
“Possibly late Wednesday night. I could stay over; it’d be great to see everyone again before they leave. It really depends on how long the exam takes and how tired I am afterward. I’ll call you tonight from Tampa.”
“Gordy, I gotta go. Della and I are taking the girls to a preshow breakfast in Milt and Mary’s suite with a lot of fashion reporters and critics, and we all need to get ready.”
“Give our girls a kiss from me and one for Della and Mary, as well. As for you, you’ll have to wait until I can guide you out of your panties and kiss what we now know to be your witchcraft tattoo: your cat—or maybe it’s a pussy?”
Nila laughed. “Maybe both,” she replied. “Love you, kiss, kiss.”
~*~
A white-haired couple was walking a black Lab along the water’s edge. The large dog was leaping joyously in and out of the surf. Gordon thought they might be the McClatchys—the family who owned the estate on the other side of the big house. Although the couple was likely too far away from the beach house lanai to notice that Gordon was showering naked, he reflexively turned his back to the beach and saw Devon standing on the lanai, just outside the kitchen sliders. She was dressed in a knee-length, pink terry robe and flip-flops, her brown hair pulled back in a short ponytail. She held a coffee mug.
“You make good coffee,” Devon said. “You do remember that you said we could use your pool while you were away? I thought you were leaving last night.”
“Whoops,” Gordon said as he reached for the shower-control valve on the wall.
She slid out of her flip-flops. “Don’t turn off the water. I always shower before swimming.” She set down the coffee mug on the pool bar, untied the terry-cloth sash around her waist, and then slipped the small robe over her bare breasts and onto a bar stool.
Gordon appreciatively gazed at her full breasts, the sexy curve of her abdomen, and her long, straight legs.
She smiled and nodded toward Gordon’s now fully erect penis. “I guess I won’t need this,” she said as she pulled the string on the side of her thong bikini bottom and let the swimsuit fall to the tile floor.
~*~
Gordon was softly snoring in the big bed. The suppository Devon had gently inserted into his rectum during foreplay had done its job. He’d had a crashing orgasm, rolled onto his back, and fallen into a light sleep. Devon smiled. Unlike the previous afternoon, this time she wanted Gordon to remember—to remember not just the sex but to remember that Devon, not Maggie, had been his partner.
“Ready?” Hattie called from the hallway outside the master bedroom.
“Come on in,” Devon replied. “We’ve got about ten minutes before he wakes up.”
Hattie opened her colorful, beaded bag and handed Devon a two-inch-long needle with a black T-shaped handle. “Between the toes?” she asked.
Devon shook her head “Too obvious. He wears flip-flops or sandals most of the time. We’ll do it on the back side of the scrotum, near the top. Even though he and Nila are intimate, she’s not likely to notice my mark back there.”
Hattie nodded, rolled Gordon’s slumbering body to his stomach, and then spread his legs apart. “You want me to do it?”
Devon pulled herself onto the bed and knelt between Gordon’s legs. “No. I’ll enjoy this.” Devon spread the soft skin above Gordon’s testes with the thumb and index finger of her left hand, while, with the needle’s black T-shaped handle secure against her right palm, she expertly pricked out the pattern of her mark. She extended her hand with the needle.