1.         Jack and Isabelle were drinking tea in the parlor. Carmen was upstairs, Martin was out on a social call, and Kelly was out riding her horse, overseen by one of the grooms.

“How did Carmen and you meet, Jack?” asked Isabelle.

“We met when we were in college,” said Jack briefly.  She waited for him to go on, but he did not.

“Were you at the same university? Come on, I’m curious!”

“No, she went to Wellesley – that’s a girls’ school.”

“And where did you go?”

“I went to a university in Cambridge.”

“Harvard? You went to Harvard?”

“I don’t have a university degree,” said Jack, not answering the question.

“So how did you meet?”

“I played football. We met at a pep rally. One of those events where the school tries to drum up enthusiasm before a game.”

“So, tell me about it,” prodded Isabelle.

“There’s nothing to tell,” he responded with a trace of irritation. “She was a virgin. I was not. We fucked. She got pregnant. We decided to get married.”

 “Go on,” said Isabelle.

“I left the university, joined the army. Did six years. Came home and joined my father-in-law’s company as an assistant manager.”

“You worked your way up to CEO?”

“I’ve finished my tea,” he said standing up. “I need to get back to work.”

Isabelle caught his wrist and pulled him down to sit in on the sofa beside her.  To keep him from leaving abruptly, she moved over and sat on his lap.  He put his arm around her waist.  She twisted around and doing do, her firm breasts were centimeters from his face.  Up close, he could see through the thin, white silk of her blouse to the lacy patterns of her black bra.  It was low cut and strapless.

“The maids will be in here any time to clear up, Isabelle,” Jack said.  “We shouldn’t start them talking.”

“Why, I’m not doing anything Kelly wouldn’t do!” she said innocently, undercutting her words by unfastening the top button of her blouse to show him her cleavage.  However, they soon heard the tap-tapping of Carmen’s heels in the hallway and Isabelle quickly stood up and re-seated herself on a chair.

Jack took advantage of his freedom to stand up.  He went up to Carmen as she entered and kissed her on the cheek.

“I’ve just finished my tea, dear, but perhaps Isabelle will keep you company,” he said.  He smiled at them both and left.

Isabelle poured Carmen a cup of tea.

“Thank you, dear,” said Carmen, as she dropped in a lump of unrefined sugar and stirred it in with a silver teaspoon.

“I was just asking Jack how the two of you met,” said Isabelle, chattily.  “He said you met at university.  But he didn’t seem to want to talk about it.  Most Harvard men I know will go on and on about it with the slightest excuse.”

“Poor Jack,” said Carmen.  “He didn’t have the best time there.”

“Tell me about it,” said Isabelle, leaning forward and putting her chin on steepled hands.  Carmen thought again what an angelic face she had.

“Jack was very poor,” Carmen said.  “His father was a sergeant in the Army – obviously he didn’t make enough to pay for a Harvard education. Jack came in on a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) military scholarship. He was also an exceptional athlete.  He was a football quarterback and by the end of his freshman year, he was already the starter.  He has the greatest eye-hand coordination of anyone I’ve ever known.  He was a great shot with with pistol and rifle.  He grew up working in stables, and is an exceptional rider.”

“Formidable,” said Isabelle in French.  “Surely all these talents must have made him very popular?”

“Yes, indeed,” laughed Carmen.  “When I met him at a pep rally, I was a shy freshman and he was this dashing sophomore, surrounded by pretty girls.  When he asked me to dance, I nearly fainted.”

“You must have been stunning as an eighteen-year-old!” exclaimed Isabelle, putting her arms around Carmen and hugging her lightly.  “Look at you, you are still gorgeous.  It is no wonder that he sought you out.”

“Oh, hush girl,” said Carmen, but her expression indicated that she was pleased.

“Did he … make love to you?”

Carmen blushed cherry red with the memory of that first encounter, when Jack had taken her virginity on a blanket behind some bushes during the pep rally. Her skirt hiked up around her waist, panties wet and stripped off, his huge organ pushing at her tight pussy lips. His invasion, pushing into her insistently, rupturing her, making her a woman. How she had screamed! Thankfully her cries were drowned out by the marching band. He had fucked her hard, there was no other word for it. He had made her cum so many times, given sexual release so intense that no other man could compare. So deep inside her! Their sexual bond was so intense that she still could not look at Jack without imagining his cock deep inside her.

“He took my virginity,” Carmen said out loud. “Whatever his other faults, Jack is a great lover.”

“A great quality in a husband,” said Isabelle.

“We dated,” Carmen went on.  “Jack took me to all sorts of places that I had never been.  South Boston bars full of hardhat working men, jazz clubs in Roxbury where we were the only white folk and Red Sox games at Fenway Park.  Those first few months …”  Carmen broke off, with a wistful expression on her face.  “… were heaven.  We were so in love!  When my father tells me how horrible Jack is, how calculating, how violent and ruthless, how he only wants my money, I always recall those months and I think – Jack is the gentlest, kindest, most unselfish man that I have ever known.  He has never asked me for a cent.”

“What happened then?”

“When Jack met me he was sleeping with one of his literature instructors, a young, married assistant professor called Elizabeth Smythe Warren.  When he met me, he told me all about it. Then he went to her and ended it. Unfortunately, just about that time, she found out she was pregnant and her husband overheard her trying to set up an abortion. He accused her of cheating on him.”

“Why didn’t her husband think he was the father?”

“Apparently her husband was not very sexual – rarely had sex with her and then only with birth control. That’s why she came on to Jack in the first place. Jack told me everything.” Carmen colored. “He was having sex with Elizabeth Smythe Warren twice or thrice a day. He never used a condom because she told him she was on the pill.”

“Anyway, when Jack told her it was over, she wanted to hurt him in any way possible and protect her marriage at the same time. She told her husband that Jack had raped her. Together they went to campus security and filed a report. Then she came to my lodgings near Wellesley and raved and ranted at me about how he was after my money. Jack was called in by the Dean of Students and strongly advised to leave the university.  We were both young and scared, I asked my father for help, but he has hated Jack from the first and tried to persuade me that Elizabeth was telling the truth, that Jack is rapist. Then I found out I was pregnant, too.”

Isabelle was listening with rapt attention and she gasped.

“No!”

“Yes, I guess in that respect I was as foolish as Elizabeth Smythe Warren. We had been making love four-five times a day – and Jack is incredibly virile. It was inevitable.”

“What did you do?”

“My parents pressured me to get an abortion,” Carmen said. Isabelle hugged her again, delighted to hold her firm body.  “But I resisted. Jack had to leave, so before he left, we ran away to Western Massachusetts and got married.”

“That was brave of you,” said Isabelle.

“I have never regreted it.  All these years later, I still am happy I married him.”

“But where did the two of you go?”

“I returned to Wellesley,”  said Carmen.  “Jack stayed in a boarding house in Boston for a few months till his money ran out.  He didn’t have many options.  I tried to give him money out of my allowance, but he wouldn’t take a penny.  His ROTC advisor gave him a recommendation and he enlisted in the army. I stayed on at Wellesley and graduated with a double major in philosophy and aesthetics. A rich girl’s degree, I suppose.”  Carmen laughed self-consciously, but it was an infectious sound and Isabelle joined in

“Jack enlisted as a common soldier?”

“What else could he do?  He had no money and no connections.  When he was in Basic training his father was killed in terrorist action in the Middle East.  His mother is English, but repudiated him when he was born. He had been brought up by his father.”

“So he had no other family?”

“I was all the family he had,” said Carmen.  “I visited him faithfully, every weekend during his Basic.  Then he was selected for the special forces and sent away to a secret facility.  For the next six years, I saw him sporadically.  He was not there when Martin was born.  I never knew when he would show up.  When he came, he called me and I would go and stay with him.  I always took Martin along.  We would stay in a cheap motel and eat hamburgers and fries – Jack still would not let me pay for anything.  Martin and Jack got along so well when he was baby.”

“This is so exciting!” said Isabelle.  By now she was cuddling Carmen on the sofa, nuzzling her cheek to cheek.  She was pleased to see that Martin’s mother did not object as she gently got more physically intimate.  But she was quite genuine in her interest in Carmen and Jack’s story.  “But it must have been very difficult for you.”

“It was not so bad,” Carmen said, smiling.  “In the motel, once we put Martin to sleep, we would fuck like rabbits.  Jack would make me cum again and again, till by morning I would be cross-eyed. I got pregnant again and Kelly was born when Martin was five.”

“So where was Jack posted during this time?”

“It was all classfied,” replied Carmen.  “He could never tell me where he had been, or what he had done.  But I knew he had seen and done terrible things – sometimes he would have terrible nightmares, break into a sweat and scream.  Once when I pressed him too far, he yelled, ‘OK, I killed a few guys, you happy now?!’  I’ve never asked him again.”

Carmen’s voice shook a bit – the memory clearly upset her.  Isabelle petted her silky hair and kissed her temples.

“Jack served just over six years. He was twenty-six when he came back.  I had a huge fight with my parents, but I got them to give him a job.  Jack started in sales.  He turned out to be surprisingly good at it.  His bosses kept recommending him for promotions and my father was reluctant.  But he saw that Jack was making money for us, so he gave in.  By the time he was in his early thirties, Jack was running a division and took over as CEO eight years ago.”

“So it’s a happy ending,” said Isabelle.  “The prince strikes it rich and settles down happily ever after with the beautiful princess.”

“Almost like that,” said Carmen.

“What do you mean?  The Foncault Group is worth billions.  As CEO, Jack must be very rich.”

“My father wrote in an ironclad contract.  Everything Jack gets paid stays with the company.  He can spend what he likes, but he doesn’t have a penny in his own name.”

“But why?”

“My father has always hated Jack.  And my mother hated him while she was alive.  They could never forgive him his birth.  They were so set on me marrying someone with a title and old money – and Jack is antithesis of that. His mother is an English aristocrat, but her family has never acknowledged him.”

“Why did Jack put up with these ridiculous conditions?” asked Isabelle, a hint of anger now in her voice.

“He loves me,” said Carmen simply.   “No matter how many other women he sleeps with and impregnates, I know that deep down he loves only me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Positive. You are a beautiful young thing, my dear, but even you couldn’t steal Jack away from me.”

Carmen’s comment was inadvertently right on target and Isabelle colored.  To cover it, she kissed Carmen again, this time lightly on the lips.

“My, my,” said Carmen.  “You’re getting me excited with all this heavy petting.”

Her voice was light and teasing, but was there was an undercurrent of desire?  Isabelle did not find out, for Conchita, one of the young maids came in to clear away the tea things.

“Surely you would never do anything untoward,” said Isabelle as Conchita worked silently.  “Jack tells me that as a wife and mother, you perfection personified.”

A languid smile slowly descended over Carmen’s face and now as Conchite left the parlor, she put her arms around Isabelle, drawing her close.

“Oh, I’m not perfect, my dear. Jack always told me that our marriage is open, that I am as free as he is. I have taken him at his word. I’ve had a few affairs of my own. I’m just much more discreet than he is.”

“Tell me! Tell me! Who?”

“You wouldn’t know them, my dear. Except …. perhaps one. He’s Martin’s friend.”

“Who?”

“Brad Morgan.”

“He’s twenty years younger than you! How was he?”

“He’s almost as well endowed as Jack. But he’s so full of himself! Thinks he’s a gift to women. He’s not bad, but nothing compared to Jack.”

“Have you ever had a man like Jack?”

“No.” Carmen’s anwer was immediate.  

-

2.        Meanwhile, things were very busy at the Grierson household.  The wedding of Martin and Isabelle was now a week away and a thousand details had to be dealt with.  Carmen was increasingly excited – up at the crack of dawn and working over details till late at night.  Isabelle was in the whirl of arrangements with caterers, flower shops, the bridal store, and more things than she had thought possible.  Jack got little chance to see her and was building up a huge reservoir of sexual frustration.

The wedding was on Saturday.  On Thursday, Isabelle’s sister, Cecile, came over from her boarding school. Isabelle’s mother Simone was due to arrive on Friday from her French chateau. Cecile was to share Kelly’s room, using the spare bed there, while Simone was to stay in the guest wing of the mansion, in an adjoining suite to the one that Isabelle herself occupied at the moment.  Jack took off from work Thursday morning and came home for lunch.  Carmen met him in the entrance hallway and they exchanged a quick kiss.  Jack managed to grope her breasts before she twisted away giggling, “Silly boy!  Isabelle’s kid sister Cecile arrived this morning.  She’s a young thing, just turned eighteen – great company for Kelly.  They seem to have hit if off really well.” 

She led the way into the house.  ‘We’re eating in the parlor.  Lunch is laid out and I’ve sent Anna to round everyone up.’

Martin and Isabelle were already seated at the dining table when Jack entered.  He threw his briefcase on a window seat and threw his jacket and tie on top of it.  Martin waved a hello and Isabelle got up and came around to give him a kiss on the cheek.  He sat down opposite them and said, ‘Well, the gathering of the clans begins!’

“Just the three of us de la Roque women, Jack,” said Isabelle, laughing.  “The clan is all on Martin’s side.”

Carmen returned and added, “The guest list is heavy on my relatives, I am most happy to admit.”

Kelly and Cecile entered together and Jack had a hard time keeping his jaw from dropping open.  Cecile was built like her sister, with firm breasts that would get fuller, and long, athletic legs, but rather darker blonde hair.  She wore a black net tank top that highlighted rather than concealed her florescent orange bikini bra.  The bra had a halter neck with a tie at the nape and white splotches over her nipples that emphasized the lumps they made in the fabric.  She had on a black flowery print skirt that was just above the knee.  However, it had such a low waist that Jack almost thought he could see her crotch.  She wore thong bikini panties whose hip straps rode high above the waist of her skirt.  She made a curtsey when she came in and pirouetted.  Jack felt she did so on purpose to show off the butterfly-shaped back of her thong that rode high above the waistband of her skirt.  Then she walked into the room, swinging her hips enticingly.

‘Oh, its so good to see you girls,’ Carmen cooed, seemingly oblivious to Cecile’s appearance.  ‘Let’s sit down to lunch.’

Carmen seated Cecile by Jack and Kelly at the foot of the table, facing her.  Carmen and Martin began talking about their morning spent at the church with the minister and organist, going over last minute details of the ceremony and music.  Isabelle looked on with mild interest and caught Jack’s eye now and then, shooting him a look of amusement.  Jack felt he should make conversation with Cecile, though he had only a very vague idea of what would interest her.  Boys, probably, he thought.

“So, is your school coeducational?” he asked.

“Oh, we have boys alright,” Cecile said in the charming Franco-American accent that she shared with her sister.

“Well if there is anything I can do to make your stay with us more enjoyable, just let me know,” Jack said, feeling he had done his duty.

Cecile leaned over and said in a throaty whisper that only Jack could hear, “You better stop fucking my sister.”

Jack face registered his shock for a millisecond before he regained his composure and wondered if he was hearing things.  Isabelle...