zodiac(@5-3)

"You and I are here for the same reason," I told Joann, watching our family's fuck like mindless animals, "Our lovers like to fuck, not just us, but any and everyone, and I think we're both trying to adjust our way of thinking to accommodate them."

"Wow, You're cute... with an awesome cock, and you're smart too," Joann smiled at me, stroking my waking penis, "Laila offered to let me be your mistress... if I wanted to. I was surprised when she asked me, but now... getting to know you... you might be the perfect fuck-buddy for me.... Provided I get you to myself now and then. This kind of... intimacy... James can't do this, but I'm sure James can keep Liala entertained while you and I... snuggle naked."

I chucked, then puffed, "Married and having an affair on the same day."

"Yeah," Joann laughed, "Laila couldn't stop herself from telling me you two consider yourselves married or something like that."

"I'd marry her in a heartbeat," I replied honestly, "and I guess I kind of did in the shower... committed to being her husband if she'd be my wife."

Joann twisted around to look at the show I was watching, just in time to see John hoist Rose onto his cock, still fucking her ass as dad stepped up and shoved himself into Rose's cunt. She looked like a limp rag doll as dad and John bounced her up and down on their erections.

"I knew it," Joann muttered, "Dad took his little blue pill... even after mom told him not to."

"Sometimes I wonder if my dad is doing the same thing," I commented, "I'm surprised at how long he can last sometimes."

"Is it true?" Joann turned back to ask me, "Did Laila make you cum five times in less than an hour?"

"Yep," I confirmed, "In thirty minutes... but the last one was like one little bubble of stuff that could have been leftover from the one before."

"That sounds like it's more you than her," Joann commented.

"Yeah," I replied, "But don't tell her that. Dad can recharge quickly too. Lailas told me she extracted four from him in forty-five minutes, and we switch off with Laila and Rose all the time after we've both cum; dad got a thing for sloppy seconds, and seeing my stuff leaking out of one of our lovers usually gets him hard again."

"I see I've got my work cut out for me if I'm going get James to the point where he can do something like that for me," Joann commented both respectfully and introspectively, "I love to jerk dad and James off, making them cum for me, and on me. Sometimes I want to wire them both up to a milking machine or something and make them cum over and over again like they do mom and me."

Unconsciously inserting a finger into my cousin Joann, gently wiggling it inside her, I spoke my thoughts aloud, "When Laila gets like that... so desperate and eager to milk every drop of cum from my cock... When she gets that look in her eyes as she's... loving me the way she wants me to feel loved... My sister makes me love her even more. And when she's like that, I force myself to relax as she demands my body to give her that one drop more when I think I've got nothing left to give."

"Fuck," Joann muttered, her hand squeezing my cock, her thumb pressing down on the head of my penis as her legs and breasts quivered from an unintentionally gifted climax.

I nodded, and she nodded back, allowing me to make her cum again before I licked, kissed, sucked, and nipped on her bee-stung breasts and used my tongue to play with her sideways slotted nipples.

Joan's eyes flared open after she descended from yet another silent orgasm. Exhaling a frustrated breath before she said, "That's why James pins me down all the time and forces me to perform stupid orgasm tricks for him... he's trying to tell me he loves me the only way he knows."

"Yeah," I nodded, "Liala was pretty blunt about that being her intent, and I think I'm starting to understand what she's been doing to me and for me a lot better than I thought I did."

With that realization soaking into the spongey gray matter between my ears, I leaned closer, whispering to Joann, connecting a distant dot to our conversation, "So... from what I've seen so far, you're the alpha, and James is your pet... not the other way around. I mean, I know and accept Laila's the alpha between the two of us, but she makes me play the alpha role... but, from what I see and what you've said, you're the alpha between you two. Your bother seems willing to do anything you tell him to do or want him to do."

Joann closed her legs around my hand, keeping my finger inside her but restricting my clitoral stimulation. Having reasserted control of her sex, she whispered her confirmation at me, "I know, but don't tell James. I think I knew when I saw his eyes when I told him I wanted to see and suck his cock. He's mine, and I know it. And I guess I'm the protective younger sister right now more than his lover. He's a little sensitive about his bisexuality... he's still getting used to it and what it means to him to be bi. And how that will affect his relationship with me. I'm trying to let him find out who he is before he realized he's mine and will be for the rest of our lives."

I looked past Joann's head, checking on Laila. My sister-wife was under Jane, getting an up-close view of James fucking his mother as Jane's head wiggled and squirmed between Laila's thighs.

Joann's lifted her head, blocking my view, looking into my eyes as she said, "Thank you... for what you let James do. I could tell you weren't too comfortable, but it meant a lot to him that you let him... and to me too."

"It was something I needed to do for myself," I replied. Joann returned her head to my shoulder as I looked at her confessing, "I needed to know if I loved Laila enough to... do something... outside my comfort zone to keep her happy... or adapt to what she wanted to share with me."

I nodded and looked at the family orgy as I exampled, "Like that... Laila wants to do that, and so do I. But sometimes it's too much take... going from an orgy of four to eight... seems to lose the personal touch... the intimacy of sharing yourself and your affections with someone else... if you know what I mean."

"I do," Joann confirmed, then whispered, "And that's why I chose to stay here with you... as a member of the audience. We can always join in later after we've had some one-on-one time."

I turned back to look at Joann, leaning back just far enough I could focus on her eyes, feeling the surreal smile on my face as I said, "When I first met you at your real estate office, I never thought we'd end up like this. Laying in the sun, naked, watching our family's fuck while comfortably talking about how our siblings and parents share their love for us with their sex."

"Yeah," Joann nodded, "I'm still struggling with the whole seeing is believing kind of stuff that's happened over the past week."

I looked up again, watching Laila enjoying herself, sharing her sex with her family, and enjoying making her family enjoy her sex as much as she did theirs.

Joann and I both remained silent for a moment. Joann resumed stroking my penis before she twisted back to watch the family orgy with me. I felt my cock get a little harder when all three women huddled up, bending over, supporting each other's weight with their arms crossed over their backs as John, dad, and James casually inserted their cocks into all three of them at the same time.

John was standing at the perfect angle for us to see he was pulling out of Laila's ass, then fucking her pussy, before returning to her ass. After several minutes of fucking, whichever hole they wanted, cunt or ass, the three men withdrew, then shifted to the right to do the same thing to the next set of freely offered penis-sized orifices.

"Well," Joann said, twisting back to look at me again after the first trip around the clock, "I have a lot of time on my hands a work sometimes, and I did a little research of my own after my family started loving each other like yours has been for the past several months."

"We're all part of the same family, cousin," I reminded Joann, seeing Rose drop out of the round-about group fuck, leaving Jane and Laila to take care of dad, James, and John as she flopped onto one of the lounge chairs she had me move to the grass area earlier.

"Yeah," Joann nodded, "Still working to process that little bit of news. Anyway... Mom told me about something called a commitment ceremony. That's when two people commit their lives to one another. It is similar to a wedding and can include wedding traditions, but it's not a real marriage. You can't file your taxes as a married couple, but you can file jointly. You don't get spousal privilege in court, but you can always plead the fifth."

"Sounds like the family's growing another lawyer," I teased, smirking when Jane dropped to her hands and knees crawling toward Rose, who was offering Jane a drink as she sat and watched Laila take on all three men from the comfort of the lounge chair Rose claimed as her own.

"Mom and dad are brother and sister," Joan replied casually, "Mom told me that's what their wedding pictures were; their commitment ceremony. I looked into it after she told me," Joann explained.

Returning her attention to my penis, Joann relaxed her legs and let my finger play in and around her slippery slit as her hand resumed stroking my pre-cum greased cock.

Casually stimulating each other's sex as she added, "I've also run into too many family estates and trust issues as a real estate agent. After one of my co-workers lost a hefty commission, I decided to get smarter on the law in those areas, and if I can afford to go to law school... yeah, maybe I'd like to pass the bar."

"Talk to my dad," I offered, my hips pushing themselves toward her hand as I grunted a little, saying, "I'm sure he'll help you like he's helped give Laila a leg up as his intern."

"Fuck my ass Uncle John... harder... faster!" Laila demanded from the grass patch beyond the pool. I knew what my lover was doing long before I looked up to see and hear John grunt his climax into Liala's ass. She wanted to get all three of them to cum in her or because of her... she was living out her fantasy, and I felt my heart relax as I unselfishly watched her... be herself.

I pushed myself up on my elbow, my finger pushing deeper and my thumb's knuckle pressing to Joann's unsuspecting clit. Joann climaxed again, almost instantly and silently, as was Joann's usual.

I noticed Joann's stiff body trembling, but it didn't register fully. My attention was on Laila's face as three men fucked her at the same time. A very similar expression to the one she shared with me when I told her I wanted her to be my wife.

"I like anal too," Joann's serious and yet innocent face told me, as her quiet voice returned, her hand unclenching and squeezing my restored and ready penis.

Joann's unexpected confession pulled my undivided attention back toward her as he told shared, "I had a hard time the first time I tried it," pausing then smirking, "No pun intended. Dad's cock is so big, and it hurt at first. A lot. But mom applied some extra lube and licked my clit until I relaxed and allowed myself to climax with dad in my ass."

Joann inhaled and squeezed cock super tight as she continued, "When I focused on him inside me like he was, I came almost immediately. My first anal orgasm with dad inside me was so intense I cried until my eyes were dry... and like when dad fucks my pussy, he kept going and going until he came inside his little girl's no-longer virgin butt."

Joann's hand relaxed, and she looked away from her focus on my penis, intentionally aiming her eyes at mine as she said, "Since then, if I've got enough lube, and mom, dad, or James start slow, I can have incredibly intense orgasms with a cock or dildo in my ass. Anal climaxes are deeper and longer and different from a clitoral or vaginal orgasm. I just need to be ready and in the right frame of mind."

"Laila likes rough anal, " I warned as one of my fingers began to probe for Joann's butt button, "and both Rose and Laila are used to some pretty intense and long anal sex sessions. If you and I have anal sex, you need to let me know if I'm hurting you. The same for dad; he'll back off or slow down if you tell him he's more than you can take or if you need a break. And, if you do," I smirked, "I'm sure Laila will tag in for you."

"Thank you. I will," Joann replied, a Laila-like glow on her face as she studied my eyes for a moment as if she were looking for something inside my head she had lost.

I looked away when her gaze induced a shiver down my spine, just in time to see John ram his cock into Liala's ass several times in rapid succession, clearly cumming inside my lover. Then he stumbled backward, turning around, staggering toward the pool. At first, I thought it was in trouble, but he was playfully pretending not to fall in before gracefully diving into the deep end. After cruising under the water to the middle of the pool, John surfaced and floated on his back. Much like dad did when he needed a moment to rest and recover.

Dad then took on the challenge of fucking his daughter into submission. Doing what John had done, alternating between her cum-leaking ass and lady lube oozing cunt as he held her hips to his.

Rose remained on the lounge, offering her nakedness to the sun god when Joann joined John in the pool after grabbing one of the floats. From where I was, I could see the sweat on dad's skin sparkling under the hot sun, but he seemed determined or hangry to squirt his load into his insatiable daughter.

James stepped up, feeding his cock to Liala's mouth as dad switched from her white-streaked and streaming ass to Laila's inflamed and open pussy. James held Laila's head in front of his cock, and fucking her face like he was, didn't slow her down or make things easier for dad; if anything, Laila's reaction to being fucked from behind and forced to swallow Jame's cock made her demand more from both of them.

"Fuck my ass, Ray," Joann directed, lifting her face to block my view again, "You're ready, and I'm horny. I want to feel you inside me again. Fuck my ass, Ray. Nice and slow at first, then I want you to ride me like your dad is riding Laila. Make me feel... sluty... used."

"But," she cautioned, "Don't try to make me pass out. I'm not ready to surrender myself to anyone enough to let them fuck me until I pass out. If you haven't noticed, I like being in control of myself, my body. If I pass out, you might keep going, and then I can't enjoy feeling you inside me."

Joann kept her face between me and what my sister-bride was doing, as she told me, "Ray, I like sex because it feels good. Not because I'm addicted to cumming over and over again or because I'm so hopelessly in love I can't think of anything else but fucking my lover or getting fucked by my lover to feel like I'm wanted or needed."

"Uh," I muttered, hearing and ignoring Joann's slightly judgemental tone. Shifting the conversation down a less adversarial path, touching my nose to hers and forcing my finger past her super-tight anal ring as I teased, "House rule if you pass out while getting fucked, the fucker gets to keep fucking the fuckee until the fucker cums. Or until the fuckee wakes up, usually climaxing before they are fully awake and aware of their fucking situation, being fucked, by the fucker, as the fuckee."

"That's pretty fucked up," Joann smirked, then brushed her lips across mine before muttering, " House rules, huh... ok. Maybe later this weekend, we'll see if you can make me pass out... assuming I'm sharing your bed."

"I thought we'd fold out the sofas, and all four of us would push those up end to end and share those tonight," I offered, rolling on top of her, physically communicating my acceptance of her offer.

"We could put some porn on the big screen and play all night long," I suggested, looking down at her chest below me, admiring Joann's bee-stung areolas and slotted nipples. Sliding my penis inside her welcoming wet, slick, slippery, and perfectly resistant vagina as I suggested, "I'm sure our parents are going to be doing the same in the master bedroom."

"That works for me," Joann replied, reaching around my neck, wrapping her legs around mine before rolling over on top of me. She sat up on what was my penetration of her, but now her self-impalement of my penis, as she looked down at me, asking, "Where's the little girl's room? I need to pee... and make I want to make sure I'm ready to take your cock in my ass."

Joann's face had an attractive combination of playful and serious expressions as she wiggled on my penis as she insisted, "I'm expecting a long slow deep butt fucking from you, Ray. Laila tells me everything, and she said you like to stay inside her after you've cum. I want that... I want you to stay inside me when your done... in my ass, Ray. I want you fuck me slow, then hard and cum super deep in my ass, then keep yourself inside me... cuddling on top of me until you're ready to cum inside me again... I want to get two out of you... maybe three."

"Yeah," she nodded, telling herself more than me, "I think I want to try that... with you."

Joann rolled off me, then the bed, leaving my cunt slicked cock swaying in the summer air, then intentionally jiggling her ass at me, teasing, "Maybe we can make sure James or dad are watching when I make you cum inside me twice."

I twisted off the outdoor bed just in time to see my dad throwing himself into the pool after making his sperm deposit into Laila. Then James took over, keeping Laila bent over, digging his fingers into her hips as he thrust hard, deep, and fast into Laila from behind, ejecting several globs of dad's stuff from her pussy when he thrust into her.

James' arms wrapped around Laila, filled themselves with her breasts before he leaned back, lifting her off her feet, ramming, slamming, and shoving his cock upward into the limp and orgasmically screeching Laila. Her arms and legs were flailing about as he fucked her like she was nothing more than an inflatable sex toy.

"That's what she wants, James," I heard myself think, "Make her feel loved the way she thinks love is supposed to feel."

Then he did what I could never do, and something Laila always wanted me to do. James grunted his climax into my lover, then lowered her feet to the ground. He held her bent over, then grunt-thrusted into her three more times before pushing her panting body away from him, dislodging his cock and shoving her to the ground.

James discarded my lover's exhausted, used, and cum leaking body, letting her tumble forward; just before he too dropped to his knees panting as she rolled over onto her side, gasping for air.

I quickly told Joann where the bathroom was, then rushed over to the fetal form of my sister-wife, arriving just after James literally rolled himself into the pool to cool off.

I eased Laila over onto her back. Laila's flushed and perspiring face looked past mine for a moment, then her eyes focused on me. Batman's Joker's grin was never larger or wider as Laila stammered, "I've never felt so loved, Ray. Thank you... Thank you, Ray... thank you for letting me... be me... I'm going to fuck you so hard and so long and so often... husband... we're going for seven... no eight... yeah... I'm going to get you to eight... no ten."

Laila was well past sounding delusional, and she felt like a roll of wet carpet when I scooped her up, then my lover's body melted into my arms after she lost consciousness.

I carried her to the bed, made her comfortable, then worked her unresponsive form to the shaded side, ensuring the roll-over cover kept her from getting burnt while she slept and recovered.

As I stood over Laila, watching her occasionally twitching body when Joann returned. Joann stood next to me, caressing my butt cheek as she commented, "Laila said you could fuck anyone you wanted as long as she was with you."I heard Joann snort a little just before her hand found and grasped my cock, grinning at Laila as she proposed, "Laila never said anything about being conscious, just that she wanted to be there."

Joann squeezed my cock tighter, twisting me toward her, sounding a lot like my sister-wife when she was hungry to share herself with me, "I'm ready for you to fuck me, Ray. Your mistress wants you to climb on top of her, fuck her cunt, then roll her over and give her a long slow deep ass fucking. And I want you to fuck me right next to your sleeping wife... my best friend, while our families watch us. Let's see how many times I can get you to cum inside me before Laila wakes up."

-- Deviates From Where I'm Going --

I guess that's one of the perversions our branch of the family bush has. Wanting our lovers near us or watching us as we share our sex with our other lovers. And, that entire Labor Day weekend, it seemed no one had sex with their usual lover or spouse, but they, or we, were always nearby or watching. At least able to hear what was happening to and with our lovers.

For me, I was mostly with Joann or her mother, Jane. Laila got James to cum three times, but the third was when he sucked me off as she sucked him off, literally squeezing his balls to try and get one more out of him, leaving him sore for at least an hour afterward.

I can't say I didn't enjoy it. James is good a sucking cock, and with Laila tightening her grip on his balls as she sucked on him, he got even better.

Laila felt guilty afterward, and she apologized for her over-exuberance by taking personal ownership of his sexual desires. Including insisting dad, and I allow James (and John) to suck us off several times, with supervision, of course.

It took a while, but dad eventually surrendered and let John suck on his cock, and by Monday, John was going down on dad and me as often as he was the women. But like me, dad wasn't quite ready to return the favor.

Rose told me later that week during our one-on-one time, dad and uncle John gave each other hand jobs, more than once, as Rose and Jane watched. That's when Rose told dad the same rules applied to him; he and John could do whatever they wanted to each other, but only with her permission or if she was there to watch.

Joann took the longest to get used to our free-use house rules, unnecessarily announcing more than once that when she had her bikini bottoms on, she wasn't in the mood for unannounced or random insertions. But, by Sunday night, after Joann was the center of attention of a forced full family gang-bang, she didn't bother wearing her bottoms anymore. At that point, Joann either surrendered to our house rules or maybe she felt loved like Laila does when she's fucked by her family.

On the other hand, Joann's mom, Jane, had no issue with being used, poked, or penetrated whenever one of the men had a mind to or when Rose or Laila wanted some unsolicited girl-on-girl time. Jane was ready and willing from the moment they arrived, but it took dad and me a little time before we adapted and were accustomed to and accepting of John and James stroking our cocks just as often as they stroked their own. Like Joann, I surrendered to my situation before Sunday night, but it took until Monday afternoon before I saw dad sitting with John, both watching TV and talking about nothing as John gave dad a hand job, then sucked him off.

So, back to Saturday, lunch turned into an early dinner around the dining room table. After dinner, Laila and James accepted my suggestion of moving the fold-out sofas together for porn and playtime until we all realized the mattresses were just too uncomfortable for what we wanted to do or share as a foursome.

As expected, our parents occupied dad and Rose's master suite, but I don't think the sounds we could hear down the hall suggested any of them got very much sleep that night; unless they were taking shifts. And, at least to me, it was audibly obvious when they pulled Rose's Symbian out of the closet to let Jane and Rose take turns riding it to orgasm after orgasm. Most likely, while dad and uncle John recovered or made their lovers suck on them while the saddle made the women climax over and over again.

I tried to get Capricorn to sing for Joann, but it didn't work on her, and we both agreed not to tell James about it and how it worked, fearing what he might do to Laila without our supervision. We told Laila we had hidden it for her safety. Laila was disappointed but conceded after Joann lied, suggesting she was afraid of James using it on her.

I wanted to test Taurus' Blossom on Joann, but it seems it worked on both Jane and John. Joann's parents and Rose weren't willing to share Taurus' Blossom with us, but Laila had more than enough toys for her and Joann to share.

Early Sunday morning, after neither one of us got much sleep sharing my bed, Joann let me DP her with Laila's thickest dildo. She had enjoyed James and I DPing her far more than she expected and wanted to experience it again. While she was in the throes of a silent orgasm, I overstimulated her clit with an electric massager.

I was honored to be the first man Joann trusted enough to allowed herself to pass out with as I did to her what I love to do to Laila; make her climax until she's speaking in tounges. Although I'm not sure, Joann did, or could, since she climaxes so quietly or, at perhaps, outside the range of my hearing.

Other than Joann, I've never seen or heard a woman scream so silently through an orgasm (or a series of overlapping orgasms) that intensely. It was unexpected, unnerving, and incredibly erotic at the same time. All the thrashing, twitching, spasms, and the smells of great sex, with the only sounds being the humming massager and the squishing and slurping of her cunt and ass swallowing my cock and Laila's favorite faux monster penis.

Anyway, me making Joann pass out and wake into an orgasm like I had promised her deviates from where I wanted this to go. Sorry for that little side trip. The adventures me and my spouse-sponsored mistress might be something I share another time, especially Joann's first time on Rose's Symbian; that was a show I hope I never forget and one I know she hated as much as she loved.

-- The Week After --

The J's departed late Monday night, everyone thinking of bad and barely plausible excuses for them to stay for 'one more' until Joann insisted she had to get up early for work the next day. We discussed our schedules and made arrangements to get together at their house the following month.

The last thing I remember from that night or, more correctly, early Tuesday morning was the view of Laila on top of me, grinding herself on my erection.

We had fucked one more time in the shower after our last session with the J's. It was a dry cum for me, and I could tell she was struggling through some discomfort but insisted my sister-wife would be the last woman I came in that night and every night of our shared future. Then we cuddled in bed, and we both fell asleep far faster than normal. Until Laila woke me around three or four am. Crying as she blamed me for something I did in her nightmare before she sucked me hard and mounted me.

After getting one out of me with her hands and mouth, she franticly deep-throated one more squirt from my sore penis. Laila complained her butt was too sore for anal, and her pussy felt bruised, but it was also itching to feel me inside her. My lover mounted me and rode my cock, doing all the strenuous work, getting two more out of me before begging over and over, "One more, Ray... you can do it one more, come on, Ray... that's only four... one more, please... let me show you I love you more than she does... please, Ray, one more... then two more after that. I let you fuck my sore ass if that's what you want... please, Ray... I promise to stop at seven... or maybe eight."

My memory's blank after that. Didn't even wake when my alarm went off or during the hour that it chimed afterward. The sun's angle through my window implied it was aorund noon when I rolled over and tried waking Laila, somewhat habitually expecting her to want me to feed her my love as she did every morning we woke next to each other.

But not that morning; she was out, and I was exhausted. Tired, sore, and my balls felt like I had been hit in the groin by a line drive.

Ignoring my discomfort, I took advantage of Laila's nakedness, caressing her curves, letting my hands explore her unresponsive body. I also rolled her over onto her back, spreading her legs and licking her always tasty pussy. Alas, my used and abused sister-wife was so out of it, her body didn't flinch when I sucked on her clit. I even tried to jump-start her by using my finger in her ass and thumb in her pussy, stimulating her secret orgasm button to no effect.

Assuming that if that didn't get her going, nothing will, I covered her with the sheets and comforter, leaving her to rest and recover. The extra-clean smell of the bathroom removed the aroma of her sex in my nose as I drained my bladder. I then washed up before seeking sustenance to speed up my recuperation. I staggered naked into the kitchen to find the fridge was full of leftovers, offering me a wide selection of food-stuffs to choose from and assemble something similar to a breakfast of champions.

I remember having a playful sense of self-satisfaction, a feeling of unexpected success. Seeing myself as winning whatever competition we had over the weekend by being the first conscious and awake enough the day after to feed themselves.

-- Too Late --

It was right after I finished filling my plate and had grabbed a napkin that I heard the familiar sound of bare feet kissing the kitchen floor. I turned to find a disheveled and droopy Laila, pouting my name, "Ray," the still sleepy Liala muttered, "Why did you leave me... is it too late for us?"

"Too late for what?" I asked, marveling at how incredibly beautiful Laila looked naked, even when still half asleep and suffering from bedhead and pillow face.

"Too late for us," she mumbled, sounding like she was still asleep, "You weren't next to me when I woke up," Liala pouted, "And I could only get four out of you this morning before you fell asleep again. Don't you love me anymore?"

Then, Laila starting to lift her arm and extend her finger at me, accusing, "It's Joann... isn't it... you love her and not me. You left me for her."

"I didn't leave you, and, yes, I love you both," I replied honestly, resting my plate on the counter before moving closer, hugging my mostly asleep sister-wife.

"My love," I quietly said into her ear, "You are my sister-wife... and I will love you always. But, you told me you wanted me to have sex with Joann, and now... as she said, and you agreed Saturday night when we were with James and Joann, I see her as my mistress, just as James said you were his mistress. I will be with Joann when she visits us, or we visit them; we will be with them together. I will never have sex with her without your permission or without you being with us... or at least near us."

I couldn't help but smirk as I remembered Laila waking under the sun to find me on top of and inside Joann, making my mistress and my sister-wife's best friend silently climax as I admired Laila's weary blue eyes. Or how Laila looked up at me from between Joann's legs as James and his sister shared Laila's pussy, him fucking my sister, as his sister licked Laila's clit.

"Promise?" Laila's sleepy blue eyes pleaded, returning my full attention to my lover and what I assumed was a lingering nightmare pulling on her emotions, the same one that woke her and me earlier that morning.

"I promise," I confirmed.

" Let's put together a plate for you," I suggested, "Then we can cuddle, watch some TV, and have breakfast... or lunch; I'm not sure what time it is. After, if we're up to it, we can try for six... maybe even seven, and if your butt's not as sore as it was earlier, maybe Capricorn can serenade both of us."

"I love you," Laila's drunk-Lucy voice and eyes said to me as she caressed the side of my face.

-- Family Sitcoms --

Laila didn't get number six out of me that afternoon, but she did a few days later. Instead, she made love to me the way I wanted to be loved; then, we made love together.

We settled into one of the sofas, snuggling close as we munched on our combination breakfast and lunch as a marathon of her 50's, 60's, and 70's family sitcoms played on the TV. While watching Mr. French and Bill lead Buffy, Jody, and Cissy, though life's up and down, Laila reached over with her non-dominant hand and began rubbing, caressing, and teasing my penis awake. By the time Mike and Carol Brady were making a bunch, I was comfortably hard, and she was comfortably content, allowing my pre-cum leaking erection to slime her hand and fingers.

To me, it was a perfect moment. Laila loved me the way I wanted, cuddled up next to me, spending time together, sharing, laughing, and snarking about the shows and comedic situations. At the same time, I gave her access and unverbalized permission to stimulate and feel my sex in her hands, the sex she associated with loving me and being loved by me. She let me love her my way, with my erect penis under her hand's careful care, and she loved me the way I wanted, me with my arm around her, holding her close as we talked.

We had a brief and entertaining conversation about Carol's wifely duties since they had a housekeeper and she had lots of time on her hands. We both concluded, she kept her hands full with Mike, in much the same way Laila was doing to and for me as we watched the TV. The idea of Carol giving Mike a handjob or sucking him off in his office while the kids were at school led to a discussion about why I thought Mr. French and his boss were having a bi-sexual relationship before the kids showed up to create the premise of the show. I also suggested the show's title implied what would happen in the future when Cissy came of age, then later the other two joining in on the 'Family Affair' when they reached the age of consent. That morphed into the Laila and me sharing the best parts of our weekend with the J's.

Of course, Laila's favorite part was when all four of us ganged up on her, using her to pleasure ourselves while the other ladies watched or entertained themselves. She was also particularly aroused watching James or John sucking on my cock above her face while they fucked her.

I preferred the quiet one-on-one time I had with Joann and got to know my previously unknown aunt Jane far better than most nephews ever would or could. Jane's a particular fan of sixty-nine, which meant I had all the pussy I could eat when I was with her, and I loved the way her thigh and calve muscles spasmed when she climaxed. Jane wasn't completely silent like her daughter when she peaked, but she was quiet, yipping like a toy dog when she climaxed, or her arms, thighs, and even her pussy quivering like she was having a seizure when my penis or finger found her hidden pleasure button.

The mother-daughter pair were also complete opposites when it came to their secret buttons. Like Laila and Rose, I found Jane and Joann had secret instant orgasm buttons between their rectum and vagina. Joann swore me to secrecy, going so far as to lie about her button's existence and effectiveness. On the other hand, Jane insisted I teach her entire family how to make her yipe like an electrified Chihuahua or her thighs spasm like fish in the bottom of a boat.

Joann was the opposite of Laila for the most part. Like me, Joann enjoyed slow fucks with long conversations about everything and nothing before, during, and after penetrative sex. Honestly, Joann and I bonded unexpectedly that weekend. And yes, Joann was right; I think I accepted her as my mistress the second or third time we had sex as my sister-wife watched or participated.

Sorry, I'm getting off-topic again; this is not supposed to be about Joann and me.

So, back to Laila and me in the family room the Tuesday afternoon following our first orgy weekend with the J's. On TV in front of Laila and me, the various sitcom's laugh tracks added a strange kink to our conversations. I pulled her closer, my hand snaking around her back, caressing and teasing her side-boob, and I occasionally suckled on her neck or ears. So caught up in our perverse discussions, I didn't notice Laila had started to rub herself while still caressing my slimy penis, not until her hand squeezed my cock super tight as she groaned a silent climax from deep within her chest.

Our mutual manual satisfaction expanded a little after that. Laila focused most of her attention on my penis, keeping me hard, and leaking. She shifted a little to allow me to pinch, pull and twist her nipples, then eventually, I moved my arm around and under hers so I could finger her and move her lady lube around, greasing her clit, so I could stimulate her the same way she was me.

It was a pattern I was happy to continue for the rest of the day. But, at some point, the conversations stopped, and we focused on each other. We both ignored the dialog on the TV, focusing on making each other squirm or wiggle, or inhale or exhale suddenly from our lover's stimulation until she unexpectedly removed my hand from between her legs.

"Ray," Laila cooed, muting Laura Petrie just as she moaned, "Oh, Rob!" which we had determined meant Rob was going down on Laura that night to apologize for a situation he probably had no control over, or what she repeated over and over when she climaxed.

Laila stopped stroking me, keeping a firm grasp of my penis, staring at my cock in her hand as she said, "Thank you for reminding me that even after all, we shared and will share with Joann and James and their parents, I'm still your wife."

She paused for a moment, and during that moment, we simply existed. Laila rested her head on my shoulder, her hand hugged my penis, and I couldn't see, but I'm pretty sure her blue eyes were staring far beyond my finger entrapped erection at that moment. Inside my chest, I felt our hearts straining to connect, me wanting to melt into hers, merging our souls as our bodies had many, many times before.

"Ray," she said at my groin, sounding very serious and somewhat melancholy, "I think it's time I accept who I am like you accepted who I am this weekend. I'm not a slut. I mean, I am." Emphasizing her point by squeezing my cock as she professed, "I'm your slut, your domestic slut, but that's not why I enjoy sex so much."

Laila inhaled deeply, then her hand clenched around my cock, not squeezing me tighter, but her fingers stiffened as she announced, "I'm addicted to sex. I am, and I'm ok being a sex addict. But, I want you to know... my love for you is stronger than my addiction."

Her entire body paused, unmoving, and she intentionally refused to look at me or away from my captured penis as she offered, "If you want to stop what we started this weekend, I will. I will give up my addiction, the second most important part of me, cold turkey if I have to, so I can be with you because YOU are the most important part of me. Without you, I am nothing but a sex-craved addict... with you; I'm YOUR slut... YOUR sex pet, and I don't think I understood the difference, or how important that difference is to me... until you left me in my dreams, and again this morning when you weren't there next to me when I woke up."

"I tried to wake you," I replied, then tried to lower the intensity of her emotions as I suggested, "It sounds like you've been watching some of the romance movies you used to enjoy so much."

I also tried returning my hand to her lap, planning to tickle the fur above Laila's clit, as I kissed her ear, muttering, "Not these old sitcoms," as her other hand push mine away from her thigh."The romance is over," Laila replied solemnly, but not releasing my penis from her grasp. I sensed more was going on in her head, assuming she was fighting an internal battle, one where part of her wanted to swallow my erection and another that fought back against her self-proclaimed addiction.

"A stupid prank, Aries's Horn brought us together," Laila muttered at her trembling hand around my penis, "And now, as far as I'm concerned, the comedy of errors and redirects are over. We're at the beginning of our end. We're starting the happily ever after part that's not shown after one of those movies is over. We've had fun. We've said our vows. We've shared our love for each other with our family, and now... now the honeymoon is over. It's time we start acting like we're married... start being husband and wife, not just pretending we are."

Laila stood up, twisted around, then climbed onto me and the couch, sitting on my lap, facing me, and instantly swallowing my penis into her vagina while locking her baby blues on mine.

Without taking a breath, she declared, "You said you wanted me to be your wife... and I do... I want to be your wife... I want to be the woman you come home to every day, like in those old TV sitcoms we've been watching. I want to live in one of those perfect houses and live a perfect life where I make you feel like my man, my lover, and you make me feel like your wife. That's how I'm going to show you how much I love you, by being the kind of wife who will do anything to keep her husband happy... and satisfied... including allowing him to have a mistress... one mistress... and mom, of course."

"Of course," I smirked, then realized Laila wanted to surrender more than her sex to me. She wanted to give all she was, and who she was to me to prove her love for me was real... to both of us.

We had talked about her gifting herself to me before, and although I knew I was serious about committing to her, I could never tell if she was serious about spending the rest of her life with me, being submissive to me. Wanting me to be more than a drug that placated her addiction when other men weren't around to make her feel like the slut her sexual cravings made her want to be."

Laila could see the concerns manifesting behind my eyes; her fingers grasped the side of my head, holding my ears like handles as she insisted, "Ray... don't get all moralistic and snooty on me... I know it's an old-fashioned stereotype... but that's what I want. I want to be your Mrs... the kind of wife and lover you can use to relieve your stress or demonstrate your manliness with any time you want... and to remind you, your wife loves you so much she's willing to share you... not just your sex, YOU with another woman. This weekend you showed me again that you have more love inside you than I thought possible. You always find some way or say something, or do something, that makes my heart and chest hurt... and when I feel that way... I feel like I'm not enough for you.. that I need a thousand other women to help me show you how much I love you."

"Sex is not the only way to demonstrate your love for me," I suggested, "What we were doing before you sat on me, cuddling with me, sharing our feelings ... being together, and talking; sharing ourselves and not just our bodies. That's all I need; I don't need you to make me cum every five minutes to feel loved by you."

"Yes, you do," Laila challenged instantly.

She then exhaled a sigh before stating what I knew as well as she did, "Sex is important to me."

Her eyes filled with tears as her fingers dug into my ears, pulling my forehead to hers as she muttered, "I know you want more from me... and I am trying... but I watched you with Joann. Every time you two were together, I could see it... I saw her giving you something I can't."

I felt one of her tears kiss my cheek before she sat up; her blue eyes had never been so intense as Laila forced herself to say, "I think I'm ok with that... now. I wasn't yesterday, or last night or even when I woke you this morning. I dreamed you, and I were married, but you left me. You left me because I couldn't give you everything you wanted. You left me for her."

Laila sniffled, then said, "I know what I have to do to keep you, just as I know I can't give you everything you want. I love you so much it hurts... it hurts so much, Ray, and I will do anything to keep feeling that pain, to keep you in my life, including sharing you with someone else. That's what I need to do... I need to share your love with someone else, someone who can give you what I can't... as long as you promise me...."

Her hands moved to my chest, and her fingernails dug into my pecks as she pleaded, "Promise to remind me I'm yours... often... that I'm your wife, and she's just your mistress. You need to tell me and show me... by using me... I need you to use me to remind me that you don't love her the same way you love me."

"Laila," I replied, reached up to caress her ribs, doing my best to make sure she heard and listened, "I love you, and what you and I are doing now... this is you making love to me the way I want you to. Yes, Joann and I like each other, and yes, I enjoyed talking with her while we had sex or played with each other's fun bits."

My hands moved up and around her arms to caress away the tears at the sides of her eyes as I continued, "But, she's just a... fuck-buddy... you are the woman I love, and that will never change."

Laila flopped forward, her hands sliding up to embrace my neck, pressing her wonderfully warm and soft breasts to my chest and her lips to mine. Then, Laila began to move my penis in and out of her for the first time since impaling herself. Her tears began to freely flow as she whimpered with her lips caressing mine and her vagina, massaging my erection, " I want more. I want to be more for you. I want to give you what she can, but I don't know how to give you what she does."

Laila pulled back, and it was a rare and wonderful sight when her eyes flared with determination, "I will try... I promise to try and give you what you want. Until I learn how to be both your slut, and your lover, the best I can do... the best me I can be for you right now, is to be... an old-fashioned stereotypical wife to my loving husband who knows and accepts her husband needs a mistress to share himself with as well as a wife."

Laila began to work her cunt up and down my cock faster and deeper as she insisted, "I was so jealous of seeing you making love to her on Saturday on the outdoor bed. But, then I saw the way you were looking at me... while you were cumming inside Joann, you were looking at me, and I felt... like you were sharing her with me, and me with her. I didn't understand what to think or feel when you did that; I was so confused and afraid of losing you to her, but I think I know what I have to do now."

With more confidence in her voice and her cunt compressing around my cock, Laila insisted, "I'm your domesticated slut. I feel needed and wanted when you use me as your sex pet. And I want other people, our family, including your mistress, to watch you fuck me and use me... because I'm yours. I know Joann gives you something I can't, or I don't know how to... yet. And I think that what I started to understand cuddled up next to you, stroking your cock while we watched TV... like a married couple would, like we said Laura would do to Rob or Carol to Mike... when I was doing that to you, I felt like I was your wife... and I loved that feeling... That's what I want more of."

Laila pushed down hard on my penis, wiggling her hips, scratching a particularly deep itch inside her as she said, "I can share parts of you with your mistress because I've got the rest of you. Just like you let all the men in our family use me, the way I wanted them to, because you know I'm yours no matter how long or hard they fuck me, or how much they cum inside me, or how many times they can make me scream with pleasure... You know you will be the one I make love to every night and every morning after."

Her blue eyes flared when the light bulb turned on behind them. Her face glowed with the brightness of a new realization as she professed, "I understand something now I didn't a few hours ago. You love me so much you would rather lose me than try and stop me from being me... and to think, I was worried about you going to the Family Reunion and coming back heartbroken over having to share me. I was the one who got jealous of my best friend being with you, and you were letting me be with all of them as often as I wanted because you understand me and what I need to be me."

"You have no idea how hard it was for me to do that," I replied, "Until I realized you gave me time with Joann for the same reason. To let me experience someone else's love so I could understand just how much I loved you."

"But I didn't do what I did for the same reason you did," Laila pouted, "I'm not that smart. At first, I just wanted you to loosen up and have fun fucking. That's want I wanted, and I wanted to share that part of me with you. Then I got super jealous of Joann loving you in a way I just didn't understand... until now."

"Ray," she cooed, pulling herself up, then slamming her cunt down and around my cock, huffing a determined and pleasured grunt before she huffed, "I want you to fuck me because you love me, and I will fuck you back just as hard to remind you that I love you. Joann may be able to get inside your head in ways I can't, but I can do things to your sex she can't. Use me, Ray; fuck me to show you love me. Fuck me long, hard, and often. I'm going to get you to ten if it kills me... or you," she added with a playful smirk.

"I want more," I replied, "From you. I want more of what we're doing now; this is part of making love to me... sharing more than our sex to strengthen our love for each other."

"Pressing her forehead to mine again, she repeated herself, "I promise to try and until I get better at making love like this. And I will. I am now and will forever be your domesticated slut. I promise to be the most willing and sexually submissive wife any husband could ever dream of... including trying to learn how to make love with you like this more often. Don't stop loving me the way I want to be loved, and I will let you spend as much time with your mistress as you want to remind you I love you."

Laila pulled away, her breasts heaved with her breath as she puffed, "The only thing I can't give you are children, Ray."

She inhaled again, then admitted, "You didn't just leave me in my dream, Ray. Joann gave you the babies I couldn't. Lots of girls, and when they were old enough, they gave you more babies... just like Grandpa did with your mom and her sisters."

"I hated feeling left alone because I can't have your babies, Ray." Laila's depressed tone hung in the air until she looked up at me, forcing an attitude change.

With a not quite honest with herself smirk, she said, "I want to make babies with you, and even if I can't, that doesn't mean we can't keep trying over and over again, and maybe a miracle will let me be the mother of your children... I want to give you a little girl who will grow up to love her father just like I did."

Laila kissed me quickly, then dismounted, turning around, leaning over the coffee table, pushing her ass and sparkling pussy out at me.

She looked over her shoulder, glaring at me as she declared, "It took three men fucking my ass and cunt, and feeding me their cocks on Saturday to make me feel what I feel when you're inside me. Fuck me, Ray. Fuck your slutty wife and make me feel... like a woman... your woman... your wife. Fill me with your seed lover, and if you squirt your love deep enough inside me, and often enough, maybe your little men will get around that blockage and let me give you the little girl I want to raise with you and share with you. And, if we're lucky, maybe, in twenty years, when our daughter is old enough like I was and understands and accepts our family's legacy, she'll let me share you with her."

"Not today," I replied, "Today, you will let me teach you other ways to love your husband, Padawan."

"Pada-what?" Laila replied.

"Star Wars," I replied, then said, "Never mind."

I reached out, pulled on her hips, bringing her upright and twisting her to face me as I said, "We did what you wanted all weekend long, and your sore butt proves it. Right?"

"Yes," she agreed tentatively, reached back to caress her cheek, and tenderly finger her butt button, then responded, "I am sore, but I'll let you fuck my ass as long as you want... even if it hurts like hell."

"I know you would," I nodded and smiled as I sat back down on the sofa, "The next three days are mine, and we will do what I want to do; we are going to share our love for each the way I want... you said you were willing to try."

Laila inhaled deeply, nodding, then asked, "Do we get to have sex your way?"

"Yes," I smiled, patting the sofa next to me, looking at her, then my erection as I said, "First, I want you to finish what you started."

Laila's face glowed before she jumped to snuggle next to me. Her hand grasped my cock, and began stroking hard and fast."

"Slow down," I directed, "Take your time, let me enjoy you taking care of your husband. Do you think Carol rushed Mike when he was relaxing after a long day at the office?"

"Only when she heard the school bus pull up outside," Laila smirked, then kissed my cheek. She licked my ear, whispering, "I want to see you cum all over my hand, then I'm going to let you watch me lick up all your love."

"But," I insisted, "Take your time. If you make me cum before the end of this episode, you have to start all over. If you take your time and go slow; tease me, milk all the pre-cum you can out of me and make me cum after the next show starts, then I will lick your kitty during the entire next episode."

"Oh," Laila cooed, forcing her hand to slow down and relax. Running her fingers and palm over the head of my slimy cock, she exhaled, "I'm not sure I can wait. I want to make you cum now... then again and again."

"For the next three days, I will be teaching you quality over quantity," I said, caressing Laila's head, struggling to stop myself from forcing her to go down on me. Taking a breath, feeling my hips wanting to push my cock up into her hand, as I directed, "You're going to work on seeing how much cum you can get out of me, not how often you can get me to cum."

"Can I swallow it?" she asked, adapting to the slower, more intimate pace I wanted her to learn, "Can I suck on you when I do make you cum?"

"No," I replied, "After you make me squirt, you can lick it up, like a good sex pet... then I will lick you."

"OH!" Liala cooed as she shivered, "You're making my insides hurt again."

-- Strange Days --

Laila was an excellent student those next three days. Besides the naked dancing I insisted we do at least twice a day (something dad and Rose started to join in on our second day of intimacy training), Laila loved giving me long, slow handjobs. I preferred feeling her sharing her sexual affections when we snuggled close on the sofa watching TV with dad and Rose, but she liked to tease and test me, like when she would jerk me off under the table when we all ate in the dining room, or at a restaurant. Of course, she may have been getting me back for insisting she wears her remote control panties whenever we ate out, either as a couple or a family.

I could take another divergence here and tell you about the first time I made Laila perform sex pet orgasm tricks for me as we had dinner with Joann and James. I'll spare you the details, but I think Joann's expressions were better than Laila's, and all she had to do was watch me make Laila climax over and over again.

Anyway, back to where I left off, Laila and I experimented with various non-climax-based naked intimacy exercises I found after some quick online research. Rose made dad join in by the end of our second day, but that wasn't the best part. The best part was how Laila started to open up to me when she and I incorporated mutual masturbation into our pre-bedtime fuck and sleep routine. The rules were simple; Laila would give me a hand job, and she had to honestly answer any question I asked until she made me cum. Then I did the same to her. Except, because she came so quickly and so often, I gave her three and a one-minute cool down separated each of her climaxes, during which I had to answer any question she asked.

These intimacy sessions strengthened our relationship, and I know what Laila and I were doing to share our love the way I wanted and the way she wanted at the same time rubbed off on Rose and dad. More than once, I heard them doing the same in their room after family time.

Then things changed a few months later. Right after, Laila and I started the second semester of our second year. I remember this next part happened after we confirmed our college spring break schedules overlapped with what would be our first full family reunion experience.

As always, a new semester, new classes, and new schedules took a little while to adjust. Laila's internship at dad's office became a part-time job after the summer, which meant she was home far less often. Even with the job I took after Winter-break providing tech support at the college, I was home alone with Rose far more than I was the previous semester.

Free-use fucks remained a part of our family's way of life. Laila told me how dad used her whenever they could get away with it at work, and Rose was always naked and ready for me when I got home. Usually, I found her in the kitchen preparing for dinner or working on the necessity of doing laundry since most of us had gone back to wearing clothes regularly after summer ended.

Please, don't get the wrong impression about Rose and how I've just painted her as a domestic engineer or a classic housewife. It was her choice. Dad's income could afford to hire help, and all three of us told her she could go and get a job if she wanted to. Dad even offered to help her start her own business if she wanted, but she didn't. Rose was quite content taking care of the house, her husband, her daughter, and her stepson. And I don't mean being available for us to use anytime we wanted sexually; that was on top of all she did to manage our home and our lives, something she did very well.

The week after school started, our routine started to settle in. Three days a week, I would get home about two hours before Laila and dad arrived from the office. Rose would be waiting for me naked to greet me when I walked in the door, or naked and doing whatever needed doing to keep our house clean and organize.

I still remember her impatiently telling me, "I've been waiting all day to feel a dick inside me, Ray. Get your cock out and fuck me this minute," she said or paraphrased in some form or another when I came into the house.

I will admit, finding Rose in the living room watching TV while ironing, wearing nothing but an apron was hot. I fucked her while she ironed, paid bills, made dinner, or over the back of the couch as she watched her TV shows.

At least one of those three days a week I got home before dad and Laila, Rose would be waiting in my room the master suite, rubbing herself, making sure she was wet and ready, always claiming, "I needed to change the sheets; let's make sure they're dirty."

We were into the second week of this new routine when I noticed a few odd things she had been doing since the start of our new schedules. I wanted to talk to Laila about it, but dad happened to be the first one in the door that night. I intercepted him at the garage door, and, god help me, I sounded just like he did when I said, "Dad, we need to talk; in your office."I closed then quietly closed the door, then kept my voice low as I said, "Dad, there's something odd going on with Rose. Since I started my classes this semester, when I get home from school, she makes me fuck her, sometimes twice."

"So," dad replied, "We agreed to share both Rose and Laila, and as I'm sure Laila's told you, she and I are enjoying each other whenever we can at the office."

"She's told me," I replied, "And you know I don't have a problem sharing her with you. Beyond our once-a-week wife swap, but," I paused, then stated bluntly, "Rose ain't giving me any ass. No blow jobs or hand-jobs either, except to get me hard."

Dad's expression told me he didn't understand, so I explained, "Rose used to love to suck on my cock, and I got used to it; I expected her to want to do that to me as soon as I walk in the house, but she's hasn't. And, as you know, Laila loves anal, so it took me a while to realize Rose wasn't letting me fuck her ass. Yesterday when I tried, she told me, you've been fucking her ass so hard every night she was too sore. Last week, when it was her turn to share my bed, she said she wasn't ready for butt stuff. She said she forgot to make herself ready for what used to be something we shared at least once a night when she slept with me."

"She said that?" dad questioned, the countered, "That's odd. She's been saying the same thing about her puss. She's been sucking me off every chance she can or begging me to fuck her ass until I squirted, no matter how long it took. Rose said, you've been fucking her cunt so hard and so often, she was sore or too loose to give me what I wanted. When I did get inside her, she moved me to her mouth or ass before she made me cum."

"She's cooking up something, and I don't think it's dinner," I confirmed.

"Yeah," dad nodded, "Laila should be home soon. She needed to stop for gas. Tell Rose I want to have dinner in the dining room tonight. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Dad smirked, then added, "Sorry, no pun intended."

Pre-dinner conversations were the normal how's school and how's work questions. Rose, as usual, was the last to sit down at the table. Laila had a suspicious look in her eyes when she realized dad, and I hadn't started eating, waiting for and watching Rose until she sat down.

Dad and I looked at each other, and he nodded, authorizing me to start the interrogation.

There are a variety of interrogation techniques. There's the old-fashioned good-cop bad-cop routine, or you can use one of several slow and smooth non-confrontational methods. I've got a professor who's good at asking questions and remaining silent until a student feels the need to say something to fill the silence, usually something incriminating.

I decided to go for shock and awe.

"Rose," I said, waiting until she looked up at me before dropping, "How long have you been trying to get pregnant with my child, and when did you find out Laila can't have children?"

Laila gasped, and as quickly as she turned pale, I thought she might pass out. Dad muttered, "Fuck," quietly under his breath, but I kept my eyes locked on Rose, adopting the remain silent until they speak method."

Rose inhaled deeply, laid down her utensils, straightened her shoulders, then replied at me, "I've known what my daughter refused to share with me since the day Joann found us in the back yard sharing our love as a family should. I heard the three of you talking when I was bringing you some drinks. I stopped, listened, then went back into the house and cried."

Rose looked at and reached out to caress Laila saying, "I more upset that you didn't think you could tell me than I was at finding out you couldn't give me any grandbabies.... Laila, why didn't you tell me what happened. I would have been there for you."

"I couldn't," Laila stammered, "I fucked up, and I was too embarrassed to tell you or look at the disappointment on your face. You've been dropping hints for years that you wanted me to give you grandbabies, and the one time I could... when I was pregnant, I took that away from you. I fucked up, and then when I found out, I never could again... I just couldn't...."

"Well," my mother's voice resonating from Rose as she replied, "Now I know, and I understand; I hope you and I can talk about what you went through. As mother and daughter, and as friends... and maybe, after college, if you want to, we'll look into that surgery your doctor mentioned. Maybe we can open that tube of yours so you and Ray can have babies of your own someday."

Laila nodded but didn't answer. The expression on Laila's face and the tears in her eyes demonstrating the shock and awe tactics I deployed had unexpected collateral damage.

Rose turned to me, surprising me as she said, "Raymond, I want to thank you for being there for my daughter. I knew you were, but I never knew why or just what you did to make her love you as she does. But I do now. I've got a pretty good idea what you did for her; I've been where she was. And, I'm more than eternally grateful for what you did for my child. How you stayed with her, cared for her, and loved her. Being there for her when she needed someone other than her mother to take care of her."

"All you had to do was call," dad muttered.

Rose ignored dad's comment, still looking at me as she continued, "Raymond, I've also watched you teach my baby how to love you and herself."

Rose paused, inhaling and exhaling deeply several times before her eyes started watering. Fighting to hold back her tears as she said, "I got the idea when the four of us made love in your room, on your bed. When we talked to you two about going to a family reunion, I saw our mother and your father making love in my memories. Both of them were next to me, their love creating you... then I felt your father's love inside me... creating your sister."

Rose paused to sniffle, then confessed, "I stopped my birth control shots four months ago, and I should have started my period two days ago... I checked this morning... Raymond, I can't give you any more than I already have to show my appreciation for what you've done to take care of my baby... except give you a baby."

We all looked at Rose as she said, "Raymond, I'm not trying to get pregnant with your child; I am pregnant with your child."

-- Zodiac Gardens --

All that happened a little over twenty years ago, long before dad passed away. And, yes, promising to love and commit to Laila in the shower was not the most romantic thing I've ever done. Still, I like to think I've made up for it, recommitting to her every year on April fools day, several times right here in the Zodiac Gardens.

However, this past year, before Rose's cancer progressed too far, Laila and I repeated our vows in our backyard with Rose as Laila's maid of honor. And, I'd like to think Rose understood that as I reaffirmed my love for Laila with Rose at her side, I was making the same commitment to Rose. The mother of our children.

Oh... before I forget, please welcome Lilly-Rose and Trey to their first family reunion, just like most of the older generation here welcomed Laila and me during our first visit. Lilly-Rose was a surprise gift Rose gave all of us. We outvoted Rose, naming our daughter after my mother and our baby's mother. Trey, also know as Raymond the third arrived eighteen months later. Unlike his sister's conception, his was a family affair, with Laila and dad watching me making love to Rose over and over again until a little plus sign showed up on her pee-stick. That is also another story for another time and place.

When Lilly-Rose and Trey were in middle school, we lost Raymond Senior to the same chronic lower respiratory disease that took grandfather. Fortunately, dad had several years to get to know the children Rose gave Laila and me, but unfortunately, he didn't get to share his love with them before he passed.

It's another long story, but before Rose's cancer diagnosis, Trey gave his birth mother the gift of his virginity as his family watched. I remembered we all cried, just as we cried two years before when Lilly-Rose gifted her virginity to me while Trey was on a skiing trip with his friends.

I'm sorry if I've rambled on and on or taken up too much time talking about how Rose came into my life and how important she was to Laila and me. No one told me there was a time limit, so I just kept going. I don't think I realized until this moment that Rose, my father's wife, my half-sister, and my mother's daughter, and her half-sister was just as important to me as my sister-wife, Laila is. And it's not because Rose is the mother of my children; Rose was so much more than those all those common nouns convey, including mother of my children.

I should stop now; I know I've rambled on for far too long, and I can feel what I've lost eating at me from the inside. I told myself I wouldn't cry, but I can't help myself.

Before I pass the baton, I want to thank you all for taking a break from the family reunion on this wonderfully perfect summer day to join us here in the Zodiac Gardens. We laid Rose's ashes to rest with her husband and her mother earlier this morning, and the weather and the loving stories you have shared with us about Rose have been far better than I could have hoped.

Rose loved coming here, not just for family reunions or to visit dad. She loved the wide-open spaces, the green fields and was especially attached to these memorial gardens. I think she would be honored and happy to know so many of you stopped by to remember her with us.

Rose's cancer was slower to advance with modern medication than my mother's, but it took her just the same. For those who didn't know Rose was sick or couldn't visit her before she passed, Laila and I and our children were with her at the end, as were the J's and their kids, just like we were for dad. We all took turns cuddling with Rose in the bed we shared as a family, reminding her she was loved whenever she was awake enough to hear and recognize us.

Laila, Lilly-Rose, Trey, and I made sure our mother, sister, and grandmother, was never alone after being confined to her bedroom. The one place she recognized who she was, who were were, and felt most comfortable being with us, sharing our love, even if she could only watch... until her body decided it was time for her to leave us to be with her husband and mother.

I hope we were worthy representatives for all of you who could not visit with her during her final weeks. And I can't thank our cousins Joann and James and their children enough for being there when we needed them the most. I'm not sure Laila and I could have gotten through this past year without their loving support.

Again, thank you all for allowing me to share my memories of Rose and the wonderful life she lived as our cousin, sister, aunt, mother, grandmother, lover, and most importantly, as part of our family's legacy.

Rose, I hope you and dad are making love again with mom and the rest of our ancestors, wherever you are, doing what our family does best, sisters making love to their brothers and fathers loving their daughters, and mothers making love to their sons.

END