Bed and Breakfast

More honest and trustworthy people I have yet to meet once we went through our journey with them. We spent another week seeing the sights around Brisbane and then another week in Sydney. By the time a month had gone by, neither Iona nor myself could see being without the other. We talked about marriage and kids towards the end of the trip. I told her that once I was divorced, we would get engaged. It wasn't a traditional proposal, but she loved me all the same knowing when the time came, I would go down on one knee for her.

When the topic of kids came up, she blushed.

"Thomas, I have a confession the make," she said, holding onto me after we had made love in our hotel room overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

"It's possible I could be pregnant," she said shyly, trying to gauge my reaction. She sighed.

"Until we had sex, I never really thought about birth control, but for this past month we've been fucking nonstop and neither of us has even thought about birth control. My period is due in a few days and we will know then." She again looked at me searchingly. "Are you mad?"

I snorted. "No, I've thought about it a few times," I admitted. "Honestly, I was kind of hoping we would accidentally fall pregnant. Over this past month, I can't think of anyone else I would rather have a child with than you."

She squealed and made me cum inside her another time before we went to sleep that night.

Unfortunately, in the morning, she woke up with her period. I kissed her crestfallen look and told her perhaps next month. In the meantime, we need to get lots of practice.

Every morning over the next week, I woke up with my gorgeous blonde girlfriend sucking my cock and swallowing my load. When her period finished, she made me fill her at least once a day wherever we were.

Eventually, though, we ended our holiday and headed back to Melbourne. We stayed the night at Iona's place. She had managed to get the landlord to let her keep it for another few months in place of her initial plans to travel north. It was a little apartment about a half an hour outside town. After staying in all the Bed and Breakfasts all over the country for the past month, Iona was a little embarrassed by her place. I shushed her and spent the next half hour walking through the place and asking the most inane questions about everything. By the end she was giggling and coming up with ostentatious responses.

The next day we headed to Damien's offices. Iona and I worked from there, looking into some new places to live. At lunchtime, Mel brought us both a coffee.

"Mel, what are you doing here?" Iona asked.

She touched the side of her nose, "A little bird told me you two were in here, so I thought I would come by and see how you're doing and bring you a coffee, made fresh, of course."

She set them down then took a sip of her own coffee when Iona sighed.

"What's wrong Iona?" Mel asked, picking up the concern in her sigh.

Ionas shrugged. "Not doing so well Mel. He hasn't knocked me up yet."

Within moments, Mel was spluttering coffee on the meeting room table. "Sorry?"

I laughed, "Iona and I are going to try for a baby. After the past month, we just thought we would see if it happened."

"That's... fast," Mel said, perhaps a little concerned.

We both nodded at our friend. "Perhaps," Iona said dismissively though. "But it's still fun practising. And there is no one in this world I would rather have a child with," she said, looking back at me adoringly.

Mel looked between us, her gaze studying us and suddenly shrugged. Then she asked us what we were doing in the office. Once she knew we were looking for a home she was all in. For the next couple of hours, she worked with us, helping us to position our wants and needs, locations and what we might need if we were going to have a child. At one point, Damien stopped by on his way to court and smiled at me as he heard the two women talking kitchens.

Over the next month, we saw a few places, and in the end, we had it down to three apartments and a house. Iona deferred to me as she said it was my money and she would be happy as long as I was there with her. I retorted that this was going to be our place and we would choose it together.

In the end, we chose a sub-penthouse apartment in a slightly older building on the lower end of Collins Street. It had fairly easy access to major arterials, quick access to public transport and like everything in Melbourne, it was a short walk to anything food.

The apartment itself was magnificent. It had three modest bedrooms plus a large master. It had great views over to Melbourne Park, think the tennis and Australian Open. The building had a pool, sauna, and gym, along with a twenty-four-hour concierge. We had two spots in the garage and I was able to park my Mustang and a new Jeep that I bought Iona. All in all, it was like a scaled-up bed and breakfast that we could call home.

The place had a little bit of furnishing, but an afternoon with Mel and it was all changed. Within the month we were moved in, it was a good thing too, as Iona's period never came that month.

[:::: - ::::]

It's now almost nine months since everything started. Iona is now six months along with our baby boy. We've settled into the apartment and it feels like every surface has some soft-edge baby protection on it. We've turned one of the rooms into a nursery, another into a guest bedroom and the third into a study for our work.

On the work front, Iona and I started a new investment business. We're small at the moment only a couple of million to use, as I'm still a couple of years away from getting my trust. But Iona is good with numbers, and she has a good head on her shoulders. She owns ten per cent of the new venture. She said she wanted nothing, but I got Mel to convince her. Honestly, to date, it's the only fight we've had. I currently own seventy per cent; we have an investor with fifteen per cent and the last five per cent is owned by Damien and Mel. They have become very close friends and it never ceases to amaze me to see the differences between Damian the lawyer and Damien my friend.

As a lawyer on my side, he has been a powerhouse that you need to get out of his way or be destroyed. He managed to get judgements against both mine and Candice's old workplaces, both companies had now entered administration but at the time of everything happening, they both had a lot of liquid assets, so he tells me there is a significant cheque coming for both Iona and myself. He also got Roger's wife a win where almost all the assets went to her since he is now in prison for the next thirty years, along with pretty much anyone involved with the conspiracy to murder me. I received one communication from William and George asking for mercy which I promptly tore up in front of Damien as he showed me those pearly whites. Lastly, he had a great amount of pleasure pulling my former lawyer apart piece by piece on the procession stand during his trial.

Now I haven't mentioned Candice too much up to this point, not because she got away with things, in fact, she ended up getting thirty-five years without parole. The only people in the court who felt sorry for her when the verdict was read were her parents. However, after hearing what she had done and what she planned to do, I think even then, it was a close thing with their support.

The trial judge immediately granted the divorce based on the crimes against me. He noted his disgust at their behaviour and for destroying so many lives.

Based on the prenuptial agreement, Candice walked away with her belongings and fifteen thousand dollars to start her life over again. I put that in an interest-bearing trust for when she got out of prison. Due to her mental breakdown, she was not present in the court case. She was still in the secure mental ward and was due to be transferred to the medical ward in a medium-security prison within a month of her sentencing.

Her only request was that I come to see her once she was settled. I agreed on the basis that it did not impede the divorce. Six weeks later, I was sitting in a secure meeting room in the medical wing of the prison Candice was being held at. The room was simple, bolted-down the table, chained chairs, one of those one-way mirrors you always see in movies.

I had been sitting for perhaps ten minutes when a doctor and a guard brought my former wife in. She looked like six kinds of hell. Her usual straight brown hair was frizzled all over the place. It looked like she had tried to brush it in some places but not others. Next were the eyes. They shifted around the place as if she was looking for something. It didn't look like she was threatened but like she was searching for threats. When she saw me, it was like a focus, and an eerie calm descended on her. The doctor frowned but retreated to a corner. The third and most obvious thing was that my former wife was very, very pregnant.

I was looking at her belly when she sat and Candice smiled.

"I'm actually almost a week overdue, Thomas." She told me as she ran her hands over her swollen belly. "They tell me that if I don't go into labour with our baby within twenty-four hours, they will need to induce me. Is that all right Thomas?"

"Our baby, Candice...." I caught a wave from the doctor and stopped.

"That's fine Candice, "I told her. "Let them induce you so you can have the baby."

She appeared to relax.

"Thomas, I need you to know that I never wanted to see you dead. I didn't care about your money. But they all convinced me." Candice told me sadly. "They told me after we had your child, that would be the time. I didn't want to do anything to you, but they told me if I didn't, they would still do it, it would be a lot more violent, and I would end up with nothing. Thomas, my love, you have to believe me."

She stopped and waited, I looked over at the doctor, and he shrugged.

"Candice..." I started to say.

"It's all right, Thomas." She said, interrupting me, she gave me a sad smile looking into my eyes for a moment before they shifted away again. "I know that we're divorced. I get that, but when our baby is born, I am sure they will let me out, and I'll make it up to you. All those things I did, honey, they all meant nothing to me. You have to know you're the only one I love.

"When Roger took me the first time I felt so guilty," Candice said, whispering like it was a secret. "But when George found out and then my work, they Randy... Thomas," she looked up at me again, her eyes pleading. "Can you forgive me?"

I paused, "Candice..."

She started in again, interrupting me once again.

"It's okay Thomas. Our baby will help you forgive me. We've got this child, and I'll be out; then we can be a family. The sex meant nothing, and I promise I won't let them kill you anymore." She started rambling. "I love you, Thomas. You're my number one guy. They're all number two, and they don't fuck like you. I mean, they were good, but they were as interested in each other as me. I think they only fucked me for the money. Thomas, it will be just you and me, and, of course, our baby."

For the next fifteen minutes she rambled on, delusions about our baby, about us getting back together, about her getting out and us being a family. At one point, she stopped, and both the doctor and I looked at each other, and then we heard a sob.

"I know I fucked up Thomas..." she said quietly, an edge of sanity and reservation in her voice that wasn't there previously. "I know this baby isn't yours and you and I will never..." she shuddered a sob. "The drugs they give me to keep me calm; keep me thinking it could be possible, but between them working and when they wear off, I have a few moments where I recall what a slut I was."

She looked at me with tears streaming down her face. Pain echoed in her eyes.

"I betrayed everyone; I became a slut for greed when you offered it all to me anyway. I was betraying you often, and then I was going to poison you. I am low down, dirty slut that deserves vengeance."

She was getting agitated.

"I know that you hate me, Thomas and I am cursed to still love you as much as the day I betrayed you."

She stood and tore off her prison top and maternity bra in one swift gesture, standing their topless. The doctor tried to move towards her carefully.

Candice grabbed her belly. "Take your vengeance Thomas," she snarled more at her self than me. "Beat me and make me cry, hurt me and make me feel the pain you feel. This baby isn't yours, I gave this body away when it wasn't mine to give." She collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I just sat there.

"It was supposed to be yours, Thomas, it was supposed..." She kept repeating as she sat on the ground. Slowly Candice looked over at me and then up at the doctor. The doctor sensing that things were at an end spoke softly to my ex-wife.

"I think it's time we have some dinner and you have your next round of medicine, don't you Candice?"

The doctor helped her put her top back on, and as she knocked on the door and the guard outside retrieved her, Candice took one last look at me, a small sad smile on her face.

"Live a good life, Thomas." And with that, she was gone.

A week later her doctor called me and thanked me for meeting with her. She told me that went better than he expected and Candice ended up giving birth to a little girl. The baby was healthy and they were running a DNA test for the father. Candice had told them to give the child up for adoption so that the little girl could be raised by a loving family, not pass through the foster system in the hope of one day being with her, which she knew wouldn't happen.

That night after meeting with Candice I was all out of sorts until Iona placed my head on her belly and I felt our son kick. Two months later, John Thomas Other was born. I thought about the innocent little girl and in a moment of weakness, I had Damien reach out to the adoption agency and enquire about adopting Candice's little girl.

A further two months, little Macy Candice Other came to live with us. We learnt that she was Randy's child, and Damien enjoyed again suing the disgraced lawyer for child support. In the end, a paltry amount of money was set aside for her university fund. Of course, she would never need it, but it was the principal. Iona, for her part, never treated Candice's daughter any different than her own natural children. We both felt that the child did not need to be affected by the sins of her biological parents.

Iona and I got married a year later, once the kids were walking and then on our honeymoon ended up giving them a little sister. A year and a half after that a little brother and then Iona convinced me to have the snip.

When Macy turned eighteen, we told her the truth about her origins, our history with her biological parents and that no matter what we loved her.

There were a few emotions around the apartment that week, and it was a chat with Auntie Mel that settled her down and made her understand that Iona and I would always be her parents even if we were not partially fond of her 'sperm and egg doners', those are her brothers' words, not mine.

Anyway, we arranged a meeting for her to meet both Randy and Candice. Randy really didn't care at all but insulted her as a mistake that never should have been born. Then tried to insult her as a fucked-up product that put him in prison. That had two guards pulling me off my former lawyer, putting him in the infirmary for a week and losing three teeth. Macy never saw him again.

Candice, on the other hand, was a different story. She had gotten well enough over the years to be released into general population. She was still fragile to an extent, but her doctors told us that a few other prisoners looked out for her and kept her out of too much trouble.

When Candice saw Macy standing there with Iona and me, she knew and broke down, sinking to her knees in the visitor hall, her hand poised over her mouth as she sobbed. Macy being a well-adjusted young woman, walked over and helped her up, walking with her over to a table. Iona and I stood back and watched as Macy, with an outstretched hand, said to Candice. "Hi, my name is Macy Candice Other and my Mum and Dad tell me that you're my birth mother."

We watched again as Candice broke down sobbing. The guards were watching, but we let them know ahead of time that this would be happening, and the warden had approved some hugging as long as Candice went through a full body search later.

I must admit that even I was moved by the scene of my adopted daughter and my ex-wife before me. Iona looked up at me and wiped the tear in my eye, exclaiming that it must be pollen. A moment later my wife dragged me over to my ex-wife and we spent the next hour talking.

Candice thanked me for adopting Macy. She had no idea what happened to her after she gave her up and even had no idea what her name was. That I had adopted her daughter made a world of difference to Candice and her doctors told us that she had a marked improvement in her behaviour after that. She still had a little under half her sentence to go, but the prison let us know she became much more of a model prisoner after that meeting.

For her part, Macy went to see Candice on her birthday and at Christmas time. They were never very close, but at her mother and auntie Mel's insistence, she went to see her. For my part, I grudgingly gave my acceptance. I was coming to some place of forgiveness but Candice knew as well as I did, that we would never be friends.

As for Iona and I, she's still the woman that makes my soul sing. Taking a chance one day to let me know I was being taken for a fool. She still lined up situations for us to make love in any and all locations. She guards me jealously and will be friendly to anyone, but if she sees anyone make moves at me, she swears at them in German and then proceeds to make me fuck her and reclaim her just like the dedicated wife that she is.

[:::: Fin ::::]

[:::: Authors Ending Note ::::]

Hey everyone,

Thank you for reading 'Bed and Breakfast'. This was actually a story I wrote not long before I started on 'Double or Nothing.' It was also the first time that I really wrote something that focused on Melbourne, Australia. I know I didn't do the city justice, but I do need to give a shout-out to the coffee and food culture that is Melbourne. There is not a street or alley you go to where you can't find a great place for a coffee or perhaps a pastry.

In this tale, I left the issue of Thomas's forgiveness of Candice on the table. Sure, he raised her daughter, but in my mind, that did not equate to forgiveness. That he introduced them when Macy turned eighteen and let the young woman make her own choice was logical to me.

See you in the next story.

John Other