Carson Evolved Ch. 01

"Good evening, sir," he said.

"Good evening, Edwards," Carson replied. The two men looked at each other for a moment, each wordlessly sizing the other up. Finally, Carson broke into a sheepish grin. "Is all this for real?"

The giant looked at him with an odd expression, as if trying to determine if Carson was testing him somehow. "I assure you, sir, that everything you heard upstairs is very much a reality."

Carson began walking towards the door, with Edwards trailing him by a step. He said, "It's a lot to take in."

Edwards stepped ahead to open the door. As Carson made to walk through, Edwards gently placed a giant hand on his chest, stopping him. "John Stuart Mill once said, 'Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.' Are you a good man, Mr. Jayne?"

"I'd like to think so," replied Carson, intrigued at the giant's quote of the famous philosopher.

"Then the question is, will you do something to improve the state of man, or will you look on and do nothing?"

Carson looked at Edwards and smiled, "There's much more to you than meets the eye my friend. I hope to have an answer to your question soon. Good night." With that, he turned and made his way towards his vehicle. As he took his seat, he glanced at the door and saw that the giant was still there, watching him with an inscrutable expression on his face.

*****

Somehow, walking through the door later that evening, Carson was not surprised to find his wife, her sister, and her mother waiting for him in his living room. His wife stood, smoothing her slacks nervously. Her eyes searched his questioningly. The other two remained seated, but their postures were far from relaxed. His mother-in-law looked thoughtful as she watched him enter, but Mila looked nervous to the point of tears. Gently, Helena laid a hand on her shoulder as if to provide support.

Carson had spent some time driving around as he thought about what he'd learned this evening. It was a shock to his system, but he couldn't really find fault with the logic of their intentions. He wasn't sure entirely sure how he felt about fathering random children and not being there for them. Yet he had to acknowledge that there was an increasing number of men who were unable to father children. Scientists were unsure of the cause(s?), but it was a topic of much debate. A country that could not sustain its population was destined to wither and perish. It was the main reason that the country had recently updated their civil statutes to allow for polygamy, so long as the man was capable of fathering healthy children. Men who desired to wed a second or third wife were required to produce a health card verifying their status.

As he'd considered this, Carson realized that whether he thought it should happen or not, society was going to be going through exactly what Orriri envisioned. It no longer mattered his own views on it. The question he had to answer was whether he thought that there should be a plan for the future of humanity, or if it should be left to chance. Once he'd asked himself that question, it was more or less a foregone conclusion that he would assist in the project. Now, he just needed to smooth things over with his wife.

She slowly made her way towards him, clearly unsure what to expect when she got there. Carson loved his wife, and nothing that had happened in the last few days had changed that. He wanted to have kids with her, and if Xavier were to be believed, they had all the support they needed available to them. All the rest of it would take some time to wrap his mind around, but it didn't change the fundamental nature of his relationship with Mara. It concerned him that she hadn't told him of the project before, but he could understand what kind of position that she'd been put in. All of this had passed through his mind in the time he'd spent in thought before returning home. Now, his heart simply needed to tell the love of his life that he still loved her.

He smiled, and opened his arms. Mara surged towards him and pressed herself as tightly against him as possible. Her nerves got the best of her, and she burst into tears. He shushed her, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. After a moment, he held her at arm's length and looked her in the eye. "I love you. I love you so much it hurts. And I'm sorry for making you worry."

Mara wiped the tears from her eyes as best she could. "I love you more than you could possibly imagine, Carson. I've loved you almost from the moment I saw you, and I was so afraid I was going to lose you."

He waved his hand dismissively. "We've got a lot to talk about, obviously. But you'll never have to worry about losing me. I chose you for life. I want you to be the mother of my children. None of that has changed. The rest of it is just going to take a little while to get used to, you know? But I'm willing to consider whatever you need to keep you happy."

She looked at him hopefully. "Do you really mean that?" When he nodded, she smiled big and turned to her sister. "Mila?" Her sister looked up, still looking like she was about to bolt. Mara simply held out her hand, beckoning her to come closer. Mila nervously made her way towards the future she'd longed for, suddenly shy in the face of its possible reality.

Mara took her hand and placed it in Carson's. She said to her husband, "Mila is more than just my sister. She is also my best friend. And she has loved you for almost as long as I have. For so long we have dreamed together of the day when she would be yours. If you want to make me happy, make her happy."

Carson swallowed deeply as he watched his wife and considered what she'd said. The two girls were identical on the outside, but Mila had always shown a submissiveness that was less apparent in her sister. Carson realized that, deep in his heart, he'd always cherished her as well. Her spirit called to him strongly, and it had only been because he already had his wife that he hadn't fantasized about her sexually. Obviously, that attraction was there, but who has sexual fantasies about a woman's spirit? Maybe other guys, but not Carson.

He took Mila's chin in his hand and gently raised it so that he could see her eyes. It broke his heart to see fear in them, and to feel her trembling. His own emotions threatened to overwhelm him, and he barely managed to croak out, "Mila, I love you, too." Before he could say another word, she flung herself against him and began sobbing.

Carson had difficulty understanding her, between the sobs and her mouth being muffled against his chest. Finally, she leaned back and said, "I love you, Carson. I have waited so long to be able to say those words to you, and for you to know what they meant to me. When I said it before, you heard it as a sister to her brother. Now, you know that it meant that I have loved you the way a woman loves her man. I will give myself to you unconditionally. All I ask is that you love me in return."

Stunned by her declaration, he was momentarily at a loss for words. It was far more than he'd expected, but the longer that he thought about it, the more he realized that it felt right. He felt the same way about Mara, and it wouldn't take much to grow into that with Mila.

Gently, he leaned in and kissed her lips. Then he said, "Mila Livingstone, will you marry me? I promise that I will cherish you as a part of myself. What you give to me unconditionally, I return to you as well. You have my heart. You've always had a piece of it, but now you will share it all with your sister."

With tears streaming down her face, her hands clenched into fists held against her mouth, Mila watched as he made his proposal. When he finished, she turned to her sister, who smiled through her own tears and nodded. Mila turned back Carson and said, "This is a dream come true, Carson. Yes, of course, I will marry you." They kissed, and then pulled Mara in to join them in a shared embrace that none of them felt anxious to release.

Eventually, they did separate. But only so that the girls could take him by the hand, one on each side, and guide him to take a seat next to the woman who would soon become his mother-in-law a second time. Helena looked at him with her own tears in her eyes. She reached over and gently placed her hand alongside his cheek. "I know you've got questions, Carson, and I promise that I will answer them all if I can. But first, I want to tell you something. A mother of daughters spends years fretting about the kind of man that her daughter will marry. Will he love her? Mistreat her? Cheat on her or leave her? What will their children be like? Will they even have children? Orriri mothers have those same concerns, but they're magnified.

"Carson, from the first day that I met you, I hoped and dreamed that you would be the man my daughters needed. It was such a relief when your background check was completed, and even better, you were part of a line thought long-dead. Now, I see the kind of man you are. I was overjoyed when you proposed to Mara, but I knew the pain that Mila felt as she longed for you as well. Now, our joy is made complete because you'll be marrying her as well. Know this, your needs will be taken care of through the project, but if you ever have a need that I can fulfill, you need only ask."

Something about the look in her eye as she said this made Carson think that there was more to her pledge than the usual. Unbidden, the thought of bedding his mother-in-law rose to the front of his mind, and he immediately blushed, feeling guilty for thinking it. Long experience at seduction had taught Helena to read the signs, and she was immediately flush with excitement to have that effect on him. She decided to stir the pot just a little bit. She leaned towards him, the pillows of her breasts resting against his arm, and said softly in his ear, "You don't need to feel guilty. Mara has told me a lot about you, and I have worn out more than one toy dreaming of the day I had you between my legs. Anytime you want me, I am yours." Then she sat back to appreciate the mixture of arousal and shock on his face.

Mara and Mila both came to his rescue, simultaneously yelling, "Mom!"

Mara said, "You'll have to wait your turn, woman. I get every load from my husband until he knocks me up. Then, he has to get my sister pregnant. You can have a shot after that." Mila nodded her head, but Carson's head was spinning and he could barely process the things that were happening so quickly.

Then he thought of something else, along the same lines. Clearing his voice, he said, "Actually, if that's the way things happen, there's something else we need to discuss. Well, someone else."

Mila asked, "Who are you talking about, sweetheart?" Saying that simple term of endearment brought a smile to her lips.

"Do any of you know anything about a woman named Samantha Cross?" From the quick glances they shared between them, followed by a nervous silence, Carson assumed that they did.

His mother-in-law was the first to break the silence. "Where did you hear that name?"

Carson was curious about their reaction, and decided to play out the string. "I'm not sure. I think maybe I heard it in passing at the tower."

The three women exchanged glances, but none of them seemed anxious to speak up. Finally, Mara said, "I guess you'll find out eventually. The Cross line has been around since the beginning of the project, but...they're extremely selective about who they breed with. They don't produce a lot of offspring. In fact, there've been a couple of times that it was rumored that the line died out. But each time it happens, a new heir to the Cross name appears. The last time it happened was more than 20 years ago, when Samantha was born. But the Cross family is so secretive, most people haven't met her. Some have even questioned whether she really exists."

He stood up and said, "Well, you'll find out meet her soon enough. She's going to be my third wife." Carson left them sitting in stunned silence as he left to take a shower.