by Teagan Amici
After the service, we started moving towards the route of the March, intending to cheer on some of the returned service people, but our way was blocked by an old man, who peered at Cole in amazement.
“Cole? Cole Easton? It’s not possible, but you look exactly like him”.
Cole stopped walking, leaning down to touch the old man who was leaning on a stick, and who was supported by a young man who was staring at Cole with interest.
“Yes, that’s my name, but I don’t know you, do I?”
“The name’s Joe Williams, and I’m sure you don’t know me, but you look exactly like someone I used to know, and you have the same name – “
“Oh, I know. I was named after my grandfather, and I’ve seen photographs of him at my age, the resemblance is amazing. Did you know him?”
The two men chatted for a while, with Bram and I watching on in amazement. I was confused at first, then the truth hit me – Cole had served with this elderly man, and had to excuse his youthful appearance by claiming to be the grandson of the man that Joe remembered. Joe had served in the same regiment as Cole’s ‘grandfather’ and I could tell that he was enjoying reminiscing about his time spent with his friend, he had plenty of stories to tell Cole. Joe asked after ‘Cole senior’ and was saddened to hear that he had passed away a couple of years before. After talking for a while longer, it became apparent that Joe was getting tired and the two men took their leave of each other. As we walked away and were safely out of earshot, I looked at Cole and put my arm through his.
“Are you ok, Cole? That must have been hard”.
“Yes, Diane, it was. Joe was a really good friend, and I hated lying to him like that. It was awful telling him that the man he thought of as his friend had died, but I couldn’t risk him wanting to be put back in contact with him, and then of course I wouldn’t be able to produce an elderly grandfather. Joe was always a great mate, although I was surprised to see him here. We both enlisted out in the country, what are the odds of meeting him here today? He must be upwards of ninety by now, it was a bit sad to see him leaning so hard on his grandson when I remember him as being so young and strong”.
It was a sobering note to end our attendance with, and as I stood in a crowd of shifters at the pub, I noted that all of them were very subdued, obviously all remembering friends who had gone. That mood shifted dramatically when we entered the restaurant later that day, finding that Jess had arrived just before us, and was waiting at the bar. She leapt off her stool to hug me, then reached up to kiss both men on the cheek, making each of them bend down to her to receive their kisses. We were shown directly to our table, and as soon as we had ordered drinks and lunch, Jess pulled an envelope out of her bag, passing it to me. I slipped my thumbnail under the back flap of the envelope, looking up as Bram spoke.
“Are you sure you want to open that now?”
“I have to know what this is about. It can’t be good, with the divorce so close to being finalised. Why was the letter addressed to me personally at my new address? Why wasn’t it sent to my lawyer’s office? I have to know”.
The three of them sat there watching me read the letter. I felt large male hands pat my knees under the table in reassurance, I must have been displaying some very negative emotions when reading the letter. Now quite dismayed and saddened, I looked up, before looking back at the letter to read it again, unable to articulate what I was thinking.
I rubbed my still flat belly as I re-read the letter. I still couldn’t believe it, and even though I was still wildly angry, I was also saddened by the news the letter contained, and a couple of tears tracked their way down my cheeks. Jess grabbed my hand.
“Oh, Diane, tell me, what is it? He’s obviously done something really awful this time. You know my offer to get rid of him is still good, and I bet your two stud muffins here would be happy to help”.
I sniffled and wiped the tears from my cheeks with my fingers, looking up as our meals arrived, and smiling weakly at the waitress, thanking her before turning back to Jess, trying to ignore the low growls I could hear emanating from Bram and Cole, and hoping that no-one else could hear.
“John’s grandmother died. I really liked her, she was always lovely to me. John never even tried to tell me she was sick, I would have liked the chance to say goodbye. But of course, that’s not why John’s solicitor is writing to me. Apparently Josie was pretty annoyed at what John did, so she re-wrote her will and left her house to me. Jess, it’s in Armadale, it’s probably worth a fortune. Obviously John wants it, he’s threatening to hold up the divorce unless we meet to discuss it”.
“But how can he do that? You’ve already signed off on your property settlement, haven’t you? And got your nisi, surely you’ll still get the absolute? It’s not like anything has changed about your marriage, you’re not going to reconcile or anything stupid like that! What’s he trying?”
“I don’t know. I don’t understand why he’s writing to me care of your address either, why not write to my solicitor? That seems very underhanded”.
Bram spoke up then, and I looked at him, reaching across to grab his hand as I saw he was holding his glass so hard his knuckles were white. I was afraid that if he squeezed any harder, the glass would shatter in his hand. Bram relaxed a little, and looked at each person at the table when he spoke, returning most often to me.
“It’s probably just a bluff. Pretty unethical too, if he’d had his solicitors write to yours, they would have realised he is clutching at straws, so he must have convinced them to send the letter to Jess. He probably lied to them about not being able to contact you any more. What do you want us to do about him? Cole and I could pay him a visit if you like, and convince him to sign those divorce papers”.
“No!” I looked wildly between the two men, afraid that the casual and semi-friendly violence that I saw displayed on the football field could easily escalate into something real. “You both have to promise me not to do anything to hurt him. I’ll think of something else”.
I saw Cole and Bram look at each other, a silent message seeming to pass in between them, and opened my mouth, about to call them out, when I felt a foot kick me under the table. I looked over at Jess, who was smiling at me over her glass.
“Leave them be, Diane. You can’t blame them for being angry about John upsetting you, especially now. But guys”, and she looked between the two men while leaning forward and putting her glass on the table, “You’ve got to be smart about this. Diane doesn’t need you getting arrested right now. As much as I think that scum bag needs a bit of roughing up, I’ve got a better idea. Diane, when’s your absolute due to be granted?”
“Next Wednesday or Thursday, I think, I’ll have to check with my solicitors, maybe they can shed some light on this”.
“No, don’t let on you know anything about this. Not yet. Let’s just say that I forgot to give you this letter until next Friday. It shouldn’t have been sent to me anyway, so it’s just John’s bad luck if I forget, isn’t it? I’m not going to answer the door if he comes around, or take his phone calls, just in case. Put the letter back in the envelope and give it to me, then I’ll give it to you on Friday when we meet up again, and then you can do whatever you want with it. Oooh, Oooh, I’ve just had a wicked idea”.
Jess paused, and started laughing so much she couldn’t go on. Even though I didn’t know what she was laughing about, I started laughing because her merriment was so contagious. Finally, with tears streaming down my face, I waved my fork at her and begged her to tell me what was so funny. Jess slammed her hand on the table a few times trying to collect herself, then finally told me, in between giggles.
“Make an appointment to meet with John. Show up with these two. Please , please, please take a photo of John’s face. I just want to see his face when he sees how well you’ve done for yourself since you dumped his sorry arse”.
I started laughing so hard at the thought of the look that I could imagine on John’s face that I had to go to the toilet
because I was in danger of wetting myself. When I returned to the table, Jess was scoffing her pasta and laughing with Cole and Bram in between bites. Before I sat down, I thought to myself how lucky I was to have reconnected with her, and how foolish I had been to lose contact with her in the first place. I leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before I took my seat again.
“What was that for?” Jess asked, through a mouthful of pasta.
“I was just thanking my good fortune for having such a good friend as you. Someone prepared to forgive my stupidity, and be friends again. Someone who makes me laugh, and has such a wicked sense of humour as you. Tell me, are you still interested in meeting Cole’s brother? Imagine if you weren’t just my friend anymore, but my sister in law?”
Jess stared at me wide eyed.
“Seriously? I thought you were just joking. His brother is single? Is he as handsome as Cole?” Jess wiggled her eyebrows at Cole. “So, if I hooked up with him, would it be like you guys, or would he be happy to be one on one, so to speak?”
I laughed at Jess, laughing harder as I saw Cole fidgeting in embarrassment, then sobered as Cole sighed and spoke up.
“Look Jess, I don’t know if that would work. I love my brother, but he’s um, well let’s say that I don’t know if he’s boyfriend material or not. I wouldn’t want you to hope for something that Blair’s not willing to give, and be disappointed. You seem like a lovely woman, and Diane thinks a lot of you, so I don’t want you to be hurt, even though I don’t think Blair would mean to hurt you, do you understand?”
Jess blushed a little, then patted Cole’s arm, looking down at it as she squeezed it lightly.
“That’s very nice of you Cole, maybe it would be best if Diane didn’t fix me up with your brother, I’d hate to think that things could get uncomfortable at future family reunions or anything. Although if he’s built anything like you, it’s a shame. Oh well, a girl can always hope that her Prince Charming is still out there, can’t she?”
After lunch, we headed towards Bram’s truck that he had parked nearby. We had left it there early in the morning and taken a cab into the city, and now I was looking forward to going home and taking a nap. The early start to the day, and the stress of thinking about John had worn me out. Soon after pulling out into traffic, I felt my eyes getting heavy, and my head drooped sideways so that I ended up snuggled into Cole.
The trip home passed quickly, I must have been asleep the whole time, and didn’t even register that the truck had stopped. I was still half asleep when Cole gently pulled me from the cab of the truck and into his arms. Any possibility there was that I would have woken up was put to bed when I felt the warmth and strength of Cole’s arms, and burrowed in. I vaguely registered myself being lowered onto a soft mattress, and snuggled in as I felt a cover being draped over me. Sighing deeply I sank further into the sleep I obviously needed.
It was my nose that woke me up. Or rather, the delicious aromas that my nose detected. I opened my eyes slowly, expecting to find myself in our makeshift home of the grouped shipping containers, and so it took me a few seconds to register that I was somewhere else. Sitting up, I looked around, and blinked unbelievingly as I took in the proportions of the room. Squealing excitedly, I pushed back the cover, and leapt off the bed, stumbling towards the door and heading towards the kitchen. As I stampeded in, I skidded to a halt at the scene before me.
“When did you finish the kitchen? How did I not know this?” I squealed in excitement, as I saw Cole stirring something in a pot, and turned to see Bram setting places in one corner of a large, square table. I ran my hand over the grain of the wood before continuing. “You made this, didn’t you, Bram? It’s just beautiful, and so solid”.
“Yes, I did. When I wasn’t needed as much to work on the house, I started on this. It wasn’t hard to get work done without you seeing, you’ve been working with Cole on setting up the vegie garden and the fruit orchard, so I had plenty of opportunity to work on furniture without you seeing. I haven’t finished all the chairs yet though, I only made three, I’ll make the others when I get time. The same with a lot of the furnishings around the house, we knew you wanted to get into the house as soon as possible, so we took a lot of shortcuts. We’ll finish off jobs as we can”.
I raced over to Bram and hugged him.
“You’re the best, both of you, I know you’ve been working hard”.
I moved over to Cole, then leaned in to smell what he was cooking.
“Bolognese? Oh yum. Are those the pots I put in storage?”
“Yes, we knew you loved your kitchen things, so we unpacked a few things. There’s still a lot of things in boxes just outside the door. We’ll bring them in tomorrow, and you can organise the cupboards the way you want. No lifting though, if you want anything heavy moved, there’s sure to be someone around to do it. Now sit down, I don’t want my pasta to go soggy”.
I skipped to the table and took the place on the corner, in between the two other settings. When Cole brought the food to the table, my eyes opened wide when I saw the noodles.
“You made these? I tried it a couple of times, but mine were gluggy and horrible. These look great. Oh God, they’re amazing”, I said through a mouthful of pasta as I tasted the food, looking down in dismay as a noodle slipped off my fork and went down the front of my shirt. I was about to fish it out, but was beaten to it by Cole’s hand, and my eyes opened wide as he put his head back and dropped the noodle into his mouth, winking at me as I stared at him.
“Cook’s taster!” he said before applying himself to the rest of his food.
We were all hungry, so ate in silence for the rest of the meal, and it was while we were cleaning up that Bram asked me the question that had me staring at him in surprise.
“So, what did you think of the bed? Did you like it? It wasn’t too weird for you?”
“Ah, the bed. Why would it be weird? It was comfortable, but it was dark, and I was too anxious to find out what smelled so great, I have to confess I didn’t look”.
Bram and Cole shared another of those secret looks over my head, and I threw my tea-towel down on the bench in a mock temper.
“Ok, what gives? Now I just have to go see what could be weird about a bed!”
I stomped off towards the bedroom, not missing the soft footsteps behind me. I smiled as I realised that both men were following me, and my body started to hum in anticipation. What did these two have planned? My mouth started to water at the thought that maybe it was a little kinky, like handcuffs attached to the headboard or something. As I stepped through the doorway, my hand went to where I expected the light switch to be, and I flicked it on, stopping short as I stared in amazement at the room. There, in the middle of the room, was a huge round bed, slightly rumpled from where I had slept. I turned, seeing Bram and Cole looking at me expectantly.
“Round? Why round? Where do you put the pillows?
Bram laughed as he stepped towards me, pulling me against his body and hugging me. I could feel his laughter rumble before he started speaking.
“I promised to build you a strong bed, and Cole said it had to be big, remember? While I was thinking about the dimensions, inspiration came to me. Why do we need an oblong bed? Then there’s a head and a foot, and that places too many restrictions on you for sleeping and – other things. This is more flexible, I think. If you notice the base, there are drawers all the way around, and there’s pillows and blankets in them. That way, no matter where we start, it doesn’t matter where we finish, you can just reach down and grab a pillow if you want one. You will never need one anyway, you usually sleep with your head either on me or Cole, and unless it’s really cold, we won’t need blankets when we’re together, you’re usually complaining about the amount of heat we generate. What do you think? Do you like it?”
I pulled back and looked up at Bram’s face, he was so eager for me to like his creation. Even if I hadn’t, and of course I loved it, I wouldn’t have disappointed him.
“I love it. So, when are you going to show me how this new bed of ours works? Are you sure it’s sturdy enough for us?”
With a whoop, Bram picked me up and plopped me onto the bed, following me down and covering my body with his. I sighed into his mouth as his hands roamed over my body, clutching at my clothing and starting to strip it off my body. I pushed him gently, and Bram rolled over onto his back, letting me work my way down his body, undoing his jeans and pulling them off him, yanking off his socks and flinging them behind me. Bram helped by whipping his shirt off over his head and sending it flying. I settled myself in between Bram’s legs, fisting his lovely cock before closing my lips over the tip, sucking the little bead of pre-cum from him and hearing him groan while he rolled his hips upwards, trying to inch himself into my mouth. Smiling around his cock, my pussy clenched as I felt Cole’s hands gently caress my cheeks before slipping between my legs. I felt Cole climb up over the top of me and lean down to kiss along my spine, while his fingers slowly worked their way into me, massaging me and spreading me wide. Cole leaned upright and then I felt his tip nudge against my pussy lips, and he ran his cock up and down my slit, teasing me, while I moaned as I bobbed my head up and down Bram’s cock. Bram moaned as the vibrations from my mouth stimulated him further, and his hands fisted into my hair, trying to anchor himself on my head without restricting me too much. Cole finally finished teasing me, and slowly eased himself inside, grabbing hold of my hips and beginning to thrust gently. I pushed my hips backward, trying to encourage Cole to go faster, but just heard him chuckle behind me and keep up his slow, teasing rhythm. Knowing that he wanted me to finish pleasuring Bram first, I hollowed out my cheeks to suck Bram harder, pumping my fist up and down the length that couldn’t fit into my mouth to add to his pleasure. My other hand was propping me up, and after I almost fell a couple of times when Cole thrust a little harder than I expected, Bram’s hands left my hair and moved to my shoulders, helping me to stay up on all fours, but also giving him another point of leverage for his gentle thrusting upwards.
