Legal Action - Box Set

by Kimball Lee

  “You are truly in love with my little brother, aren’t you? I mean, it shows on your face and it’s quite amazing, I’m glad for him, that he finally found someone he loves enough to give up… his tendency to be a danger junkie,” Jude said, as they ate the hot, crispy fried fish.

  “Has he always been that way?” she asked, “In to risking his life at the drop of a hat, I mean. He’s so gentle and kind, he’d probably hate for me to describe him that way, but it’s true. Tell me why the two of you don’t care for each other?”

  “Well, that’s two questions. Perhaps the same circumstances are responsible for both. Classic story, our dad was a drunk, a mean drunk to be specific. He was a wife beater and Finn got in his way so he took a lot of the blows himself. The old man got worse as the years went by and since I was the eldest child I was already at the university when things took a bad turn. To be brutally honest, I buried my head in the sand where our father was concerned and I was selfish. I won a scholarship to pay for my under-graduate degree and then I was busy working my way through med school. I wasn’t around to save my mum or Finn from harm or help get them and my sisters away from him. Finn was seventeen when he’d finally had enough and gave our father such a beating he had to be hospitalized, before Dad was released, Mum, Finn and the girls packed up and moved to America. I took care of our father until he died of cirrhosis three years ago and although I’ve sent plane tickets to my mother to come for a visit, she won’t come back and I’ve never gone to see her or the girls. So I would imagine he chose his line of work because of his shitty start in life and he hates me because he thinks I chose the old man and abandoned the rest of them. Maybe he’s right, and maybe I deny myself a personal life out of guilt or who knows what other fucked up glitch of the psyche.”

  “Well, that’s a lot to ponder; it answers some questions on my end,” she said. “Jude, it’s never too late to make things right with the ones you love, you know. I lost my mother when I was still a girl and I’d give anything to have time with her again. It would take so little effort for you to fly to California to see your mother and sisters. I’ve met your mother; did you know she’s a teacher now? She moved to a new country with five kids and put herself through college while working several jobs and raising those kids, she’s amazing and determined, a lot like Finn.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  On Friday they made the hour long drive to Dovecote Cottage in the village of Haerdon in county Surrey. It had been nearly a week since Charlotte left Finn in Nice and now, driving through forests and valleys into the idyllic village that was to become her home, she began to cry. She couldn’t stop the tears that fell so fast that she was gulping for breath between sobs. Jude drove and tried to comfort her at the same time, and she only cried harder.

  “Stop!” she cried suddenly, “pull over, hurry, please!”

  Jude swerved to the edge of the narrow lane, and Charlotte stumbled out the door and vomited in the grass, retching over and over, even though her stomach was empty. He knelt beside her and held her hair back and felt helpless in the face of her sorrow. When she was still, he poured water from a drinking bottle onto some tissue and handed it to her, then helped her lie down in the back seat of the car.

  “Charlotte, I’m desperate to help you but I’m not very good with emotions, I’m afraid. I’ll stop at the chemist’s shop and get you a prescription for Valium and Finn will be home soon, please try to believe that, nothing will keep him away from you. How far is the cottage from here?”

  “Just down the road and to the left, and I don’t want pills,” she said, her voice was a raspy whisper.

  At Dovecote Cottage Jude parked and stepped out, Charlotte could hear him talking to someone, then the car door swung open and JP swept her into his arms, carrying her like a baby.

  “Shh, it’s alright Char, don’t cry, he’s coming home, I talked to him,” he told her as he laid her on the living room sofa.

  She looked at him, her face was wet with tears and her nose was runny, so he fished in his pocket for a crumpled up tissue and handed it to her.

  “Here, blow your nose, damn Char, you’re really a mess over that crazy Englishman, huh?”

  She wiped her face on the wad of old tissue then looked at him seriously, “a normal person would’ve offered me a handkerchief, really John Paul you’re such a slob.”

  They both laughed then and hugged and laughed some more, it had been far too long since they’d been together.

  “I guess you’re still the love of my life, even though you cheated on me with the other man. I brought supplies of course, gin and vodka; can I make you a martini?”

  “No, I was really sick back there on the side of the road, I probably need some crackers or something.”

  Jude was standing over her then and he held a little tray with tea and biscuits. He’d made some calls earlier in the week and hired a neighbor, Henrietta Alcott, to stock the kitchen and take deliveries of beds and furniture.

  Henrietta came bustling in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a tea towel, she stopped short in front of Charlotte and said. “Oh dear, there’s a tin of Jacob’s cream crackers in the cupboard, I think she’ll fancy them. Will you fetch them for me please, Dr. Hale?”

  When Jude returned with the crackers, Henrietta was situated on an ottoman next to the sofa, she thanked him for the crackers and handed a few to Charlotte.

  “How far along are you dear?” she asked, and Jude and JP stood staring at Charlotte.

  “A few weeks, I think,” Charlotte said, and smiled as Henrietta hugged her like a mother would have done.

  There were hugs all around, with JP commenting that she and Finn were obviously sex-crazed perverts who hadn’t wasted any time. Jude said that he wasn’t much of an obstetrician having missed the signs completely, her crying and weariness and lack of appetite. Charlotte said, she too, had mistaken her symptoms for panic over Finn’s absence, which she felt was still partly to blame. Then she realized she hadn’t taken her birth control pills since she left California, so she’d picked up a half dozen home pregnancy tests the day before and they were all positive.

  “Well, no more martinis for you kid,” JP said, and they all laughed and toasted after everyone had a drink in hand. There was tea for Charlotte and martinis for the men and Henrietta, who removed her apron and sat with them as if she’d been their friend forever.

  “When will he be home?” Charlotte asked as the laughter faded, “JP, when?”

  “Late tonight or tomorrow, he’s alright, Char, he’ll get here as fast as he can, I promise.”

  “Okay,” she said, and her face seemed to brighten a bit. “Well, let me look around my little love nest then. Has the bed arrived? The bed has to be here when Finn gets home.”

  “Of course it does,” JP said, “that damned maniac Finn has corrupted our sweet Charlotte already!”

  “Maybe it’s the other way around, John Paul. I kept you in the dark about what Finn and I were up to back in law school and beyond, I believe I learned more in the bedroom of the little house we shared than you’d ever care to imagine.”

  Jude smiled at the shock on JP’s face and Henrietta who was a bit tipsy from the martini she’d finished, started telling a slightly shocking story about how much she missed having a man or two in her bed.

  “Seriously Char, you could’ve knocked me over with a feather when I found out about you and Finn,” JP said, “he’s a master at hiding things but who knew our girl Charlotte was a skilled covert operative?”

  “Well, now you do,” she said, and grinned, “let’s get my bags, I want to settle in.”

  They stayed up till the wee hours of the morning, arranging furniture and eating pasta Henrietta cooked. They finally settled into the slip covered chairs and sofa in the living room and Jude eventually drove Henrietta down the lane to her own house as she began to yawn. Charlotte looked at JP and then covered her face with her hands and slowly shook her head.

  “He’s not coming back,
is he? We’ve all been rushing around, keeping busy, waiting for him to walk through that door and it isn’t going to happen.” She said, and her voice was desolate.

  “Char,” JP said, moving to her side and pulling her cheek against his, “I wouldn’t lie to you, no matter what, not even to make you happy cuz you’re knocked up. I had a message from him earlier; he’ll walk through that door any minute. So cheer up, okay? Go take a nice, hot bath and put on a… frilly, see-through, nightgown thing or whatever, but stop worrying.”

  “A frilly see-through nightgown thing?” she said and began to laugh.

  “Oh fuck, you know what I mean, stop laughing, damn it! The women I sleep with don’t wear panties, much less nighties or shit,” he said, blushing as Charlotte laughed hysterically.

  “Well, I have news for you buddy,” she said when she could finally catch her breath, “I don’t wear panties or nighties or shit either!”

  *

  “There are two single beds in the upstairs guestroom,” she said, when Jude returned and she started toward her own room, “and there’s always the sofa if either of you needs more privacy. Pillows and towels are wherever Henrietta put them; you’ll just have to look around, goodnight boys.”

  The bed was a dream even though it took up most of the small room. She didn’t care, she loved it and she slipped between the smooth linen sheets and drew the down filled duvet up to her chin. She lay on her side and watched flames leap in the fireplace grate, one of the guys must have made a fire to warm the room while she was in the bath. She wasn’t used to the fierce cold that had taken hold at night, it felt more like January than October. Time had rushed by while she and Finn were lost in each other, now it was nearly Halloween, she thought, then it would be Thanksgiving which she didn’t know if they celebrated in England. She intended to cook a huge turkey dinner in her new kitchen, with all the Southern fixings to go with it. Pumpkin and pecan pies and sweet potatoes and cornbread… those were her last thoughts as she drifted to sleep.

  In her dreams she heard him whispering and felt his soft, hot lips on hers, “My love, my love!”

  She opened her eyes as he leaned over the bed in the early morning light, kissing her eyes and her lips and removing his clothes at the same time. She reached for him and pulled him down beside her and he smiled then held her close.

  “So you missed me, my love?” he teased, but his eyes were full of love and lust.

  “Yes, I did, a ridiculous amount and I’m not going to cry even though I really want to and, oh damn, maybe I have to cry a little!” she said, and in a moment he was naked and under the covers pulling her firmly against his burning body.

  She turned her face up to him and he covered her mouth with a long, hot kiss that left no need for foreplay. He moved above her, his mouth still on hers. Their tongues reveled in the familiar, yet exotic taste of their shared passion. His cock was pulsing against her belly and as he lifted up and tested her pussy with his fingers, she was so wet and ready that a pure rush of adrenaline shot through him. He looked deep into her sapphire eyes, eyes he dreamed about day and night and as she had done on their first night together, with her own trembling hand she guided him inside her.

  Sometime after noon Charlotte woke and her heart clinched as she touched the empty pillow beside her. Had she dreamed him, she wondered? She climbed out of bed and walked toward the window and stumbled over his boot… and her heart unclenched and soared.

  She pulled on jeans and a sweater and walked down the crooked, old stairway to a riot of laughter and sound. JP stood in the kitchen acting out some sort of battle scene with sound effects and waving arms, while Finn and Jude sat at the small pedestal table spellbound as they laughed.

  As soon as Finn heard the creak of the bottom stair tread he rose and went to her. The others smiled and tried to look away as the lovers held each other quietly for the longest time.

  “Cut that shit out before I start to think the two of you are in love or something!” JP said, breaking the silence so that everyone grinned.

  Jude handed Charlotte a cup of tea as she came into the kitchen, and she stood watching the happy scene, blowing into the hot cup. Finn moved behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder as his arms held her, “mine!” he whispered in her ear and she felt a volcano erupt deep in her belly. She smiled and raised a hand to run through his unruly waves, she was so used to his hair cut short, now the silky feel of it thrilled her, just one more part of him to adore.

  “Oh, for the love of God, I’m gonna have to go to the village and find some farm girl to fuck in a hay stack if you two keep this up,” JP said. “I’ll be taking a cold shower, call me when the fireworks are over.”

  “Maybe I’d better move my things to the Inn or go back to London,” Jude joked, “these old stone walls are thick but I wouldn’t want to chance overhearing any unseemly noises in the night.”

  “Oh hush, the both of you,” Charlotte said, extracting herself from Finn’s embrace. She rummaged in the fridge and sat at the table with a cup of yogurt and a spoon. “Sit down, all of you, this is good, we’re sharing quality time as a family unit, sort of an unorthodox family, but still.”

  JP sat beside her and said, “I hardly think this is a scene from a G rated movie, Char, you two have a distinctly ‘up to no good’ look going on.”

  “Well don’t leave on my account,” Finn said, “I assure you I make no sound what so ever and although Charlotte often cries out in ecstasy many times each night, I cover her mouth with my hand, so as not to disturb the neighbors.”

  “He’s lying through his teeth,” she said, “I’m very quiet and ladylike and he has the bite and scratch marks to prove it!”

  They were all laughing and Charlotte sat back and looked from Finn to JP, “this feels like old times doesn’t it? I love this more than anything, the ‘threesome’ back together, at least for a while and now Jude can be one of us, if he likes.”

  “I like,” Jude said, and it was settled.

  *

  Henrietta came by in the afternoon with a basket of jams and goodies and she was invited immediately to join Jude and JP for dinner and drinks at the local pub.

  “Well I don’t know,’ she said, her hands flying to smooth her wild, red hair and straighten her blouse and skirt, “an old lady like me, being seen in the pub with two young, handsome men? There could be a real scandal in the village, absolute, nonstop, gossip and speculation… just let me get my coat and bag and I’ll be right with you!”

  Charlotte gave JP a kiss on the cheek and a secret smile, and she and Finn watched as the trio drove away. She closed the door and leaned back against it, “hmm, what will we do with the entire house to ourselves?” she asked.

  “Open the door,” he said, and she gave him a quizzical look but did as he said. He led her into the frosty night then scooped her up and carried her over the threshold and into their home. “For good luck,” he said, as he bent to kiss her, “and to start things off just right.”

  “I always knew you were a hopeless romantic,” she said, kissing his neck and fighting to keep her hands away from the rest of his body until she could tell him she was pregnant. “Things have started off just right, one thing especially comes to mind,” she whispered.

  “What is it, my love; I want to know, is it something wonderful?” he asked, setting her down.

  Her hands began to shake and she was nervous suddenly; he took her hands in his and kissed them. “Come sit by the fire, Charlotte, are you cold? You’re trembling; I’ll pour us a shot of vodka…”

  “No,” she said, “none for me, I’m not drinking anymore,” and as he poured himself a glass he turned to ask her why, and he saw her face glowing in the firelight and her hands resting on her flat stomach.

  “My love, really? Charlotte, when did you know?” He was bursting happiness, his baby growing in her, their baby! He shuddered to think how close he’d come to death just days before, but that was all done with and behind them and she didn’t
need to know.

  “A few days ago, I started feeling strange and then I knew I was late, you know. I hadn’t had my period since the tent camping week, I got so caught up in you and me that I never took my birth control pills after we left California. Is it too soon, are you okay with this, what are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking I’m the luckiest man alive, my wife is going to have our baby and… I love you more than is humanly possible, that’s what I’m thinking. Now I want to lie with my cheek against your bare belly and commit this night to memory.” He kissed her and led her up stairs and slowly undressed her. He loved the sight of her and as her bra fell away and her pink nipples puckered in the chilly air his hands went to them and held them in his palms. She winced slightly as he kneaded them and he said, “Your beautiful breasts are swollen already, are they tender, my love?”

  “Very,” she said, her breathing was erratic. The exquisite pain that shot through her as he touched her breasts made her vibrate with need. He lifted her onto the bed, she had only her tiny panties on and he ran his tongue over the wet silk just once as she arched and groaned. He peeled his shirt off and unzipped his jeans as she watched, then he lay on the bed with her, his cheek on her belly as she panted. Her hands moved eagerly inside his jeans but he stopped her and held her hands above her head, “now we’re going to see just how sensitive my beautiful, pregnant wife is.” She gasped as he took a nipple in his mouth and sucked gently at first then harder as she writhed beneath him. He let go of her hands and told her to hold on to the lovely iron curves of the bed she’d found for them. She did as he said and she both feared and craved his big hands on her already aching breasts. He must have seen the apprehension in her eyes, so he slipped a finger inside her panties and circled her pulsing clit for a moment. She arched her hips and cried, “Please, Finn,” but he just slipped the salty finger in his mouth so he could taste her. She was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling as he kneaded her breasts roughly. They were hot and flushed under his hands and as he pinched one nipple with his thumb and index finger, he licked and sucked the other then nipped it with his teeth. She came, crying out louder than she ever had, releasing the headboard she pushed his jeans down and his cock plunged into her tightly clinched pussy. He thrust into her, lost in the hot, wet envelope of her sex, her legs encircling him, moving as one until they both shouted in release.