Coupling

Sara turned in her chair to face me, raising her hand and placed the pads of her fingers on my lips to silence me.

"Tom! You're right! Of course you are. This is a huge decision. But I know our friends well enough to know that they've thought this through."

She considered. "They have asked you to do this knowing all the risks. I am happy with it, so I think we should say yes."

She held my gaze. "But there's more Tom, and you need to think about this too. I know my friend. I know where we are similar and where we're different. Both of us are slow to give our hearts to anyone. Where we differ is that I can separate sex from love more easily. Abby is different. She won't give her body unless she has also given her heart."

"So, what that means," she continued, "is that they're probably not too worried about you falling in love with Abby. The real worry is that you won't! Because then Abby will be deeply hurt."

I gulped, unable to look at Richard or Abby. I'd had a crush on Abby since I first met her, when Richard was comfortable enough with us to want to get to know us outside the bedroom.

"Richard is asking you to do this knowing that he is also giving you a place in Abby's heart, if you accept it."

She gently dropped her hand to my lap and held my hands in hers.

"So you have to be totally sure! Although you, I mean we, would be doing them a huge favour, by doing this the natural way rather than using a clinic it means Richard is also offering you a precious gift, as is Abby. If you don't think you can honour such a commitment, then hard as it would be for all of us, you have to say so now."

I nodded slowly, my mind made up.

I looked at Richard "You've offered me something that is precious beyond words. For all the affection that has grown between you, you have never tried to take first place in Sara's heart. I will do everything I can to be worthy of second place in Abby's. I will cherish her as I do Sara."

I reached out one of my hands to Abby, clasping hers as Sara held Richard's.

"So, I guess the next question should be 'When does this arrangement start?'" I asked.

Abby grinned through her tears "I was wondering when you were going to work out why you aren't sleeping on the couch tonight."

Much later, I awoke with Richard's beautiful wife spooned against me, her head in the crook of my arm and her back against my chest. My other arm was draped protectively across her waist.

I listened for a moment to the muffled creaking of the bed next door and Sara's subdued moans of passion. Abby stirred and rolled onto her back; her head still supported in the crook of my arm. I watched her sleep by the light of the radio alarm, breathing peacefully, her short brown hair flattened on one side.

I don't know what sixth sense tells a woman she is being watched, but it seemed to work for Abby. She stirred and her eyes flickered open. "You're watching me?"

She smiled shyly as I told her how beautiful she was. Then she heard the noises from the adjacent room. "God! Again? What time is it?"

"A little after one" I replied.

I saw her trying to think up a witty comment, but then her elfin face suddenly took on a look of pure wonder, her eyes open wide. She placed her hand on her lower abdomen.

"I'm pregnant" she whispered. "I don't know how I know, but I know, I just know I am."

I smiled down at her. "That's probably wishful thinking, but if you are, you should go to Richard."

She reached up and cupped my cheek with her hand. "You're a sweet, unselfish man, Tom, but I want to be with you right now." She paused, as Sara let out a long keening cry. "Anyway, there's no way I'm going to ask her for my toys back at this time of night." she chuckled.

"She does seem to need it at the moment."

"So does Richard." replied Abby.

Her eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"It nearly broke him, Tom. It crushed him when he found out he could never father a child." Her voice became softer. "Every time he looked at me, I could see it in his eyes. He could see his failure."

She paused, eyes closed, and I thought she had fallen back to sleep. "I could see him sinking in front of me. It was like watching him falling into a black pit, out of reach of my help. He felt guilty, I think, and was pulling away from me. I was losing him, and I couldn't do anything."

I squeezed her hand, pulling her close. I kept silent, letting her find the words at her own pace.

"She saved him, well both of you saved him really. The way she responds to him, it really stoked his ego. Just like the way you accepted his dominance over her in the bedroom. He knew she was his personal..., sorry but there's only one word that's appropriate.... his personal slut, that she craved his cock. And that restored some sense of power, until he could recover inside."

I listened to the gentle creaking and deeply passionate moans from the next room. "She loves him, doesn't she?"

"Yes, my lovely man, she does."

"You know it's strange saying this about my own wife, but I'm really happy for her."

Abby nodded, then hooked her leg over my hip and rolled me over between her legs. She reached down to guide me into her. "Love me Tom, please love me."

I cupped her breast, then trailed my hand down to gentle the smooth mound between her legs. "I see Richard likes his women shaved." I smiled.

The moans from the next room became louder. "Actually, I think my husband just likes his women naked and wet. This..."

Abby paused, considering her reply. "He must never know what I'm about to tell you." She said, "Promise me?"

"I promise."

"Sara told me." she said "About her first time with him. About how she'd shaved - as a surprise for you - but Richard saw it first, had her first. She told me how hurt you looked when she explained."

Abby continued "I've actually never shaved before today, Tom."

As the realisation of the meaning of Abby's gift sank in, I thought back to that first night, and the unexpected reality of a fantasy that led to this unusual, but deeply loving and secure arrangement, now rebalanced between the four of us.

We were playing our game again, but I was stuck in traffic in the taxi on the way to the hotel and was really, really late when suddenly I got a text from Sara...

"Tom!" Abby brought me back to the present instantly.

"You are with me now, you lovely man. I need your attention on me. Stay with me, love me now."

She was right of course, I thought. Anyway, Sara could tell that story so much better than me.

I looked down at Abby as I slid slowly deeper into her. "I think I love you, Abby!"

She placed her hand on my ribs, stilling me for a moment. "I know you do." She smiled up at me. "You do know this isn't a one-off thing, don't you?"

I looked at her.

"I'm an only child Tom, just like Sara. I was very lonely growing up. I swore that I'd never let my child feel like that, at least if I had a choice."

I raised an eyebrow. "So just how many were you thinking of?"

She grinned. "Well, you know we bought an eight-bedroom farmhouse for a reason!"

I started to move inside her, as she gasped underneath me.

"And, ahh, we'll need to practice lots, in between making babies! I want there to be a bond between us too, like my husband and Sara. Ooooh! So we're all equal."

"I bet Sara will get broody pretty soon too. Just think, you might have us both, aaah!, pregnant at the same time. Mmmm, just like that Tom, a bit harder. Ooooh, so good!"

She pulled my head down for a kiss "I love you too, Tom!"

Let those now love who never loved before.

Let those who loved before now love the more.

(anon. translation by Thomas Parnell)