Matrimonium Interuptus

Steve didn't think long, "I want you back and I'm glad that you want to live here. I love this house. Would you like to break the news to Miranda?"

"No. That is something we do together. Now I'm going to try to walk. I need the bathroom and a shower. Care to join me?"

That afternoon Miranda draped herself over the two adults, crying happy tears. Suddenly she asked, "Am I still adopted by dad? Or did that judge cancel that?"

"I don't know, little one, but we can find out. If he did, I would just adopt you again."

A few days later.

Kathryn walked into her old sleeping room to look for the last items she needed to move into, now, their bedroom and to pull the sheets of bed. Something fell on the ground.

She checked. It was her strip anti-conception pills. She took a good a good look at it and suddenly she flushed hotly. She looked again at the strip. She completely forgot to take it and ten days' worth of pills were still sitting in the blister.

Shit, shit, shit. What now? Do I tell Steve? Or do I just ride it out until my menstruation? And when I'm pregnant? There is a good chance of that. We've been acting like newlyweds lately.

After giving it some thought, No! I promised not to lie to him and if I don't tell what has happened, it's lying by omission. With some dread she went to find Steve.

Kathryn found her man in his workshop. "Can you spare me a moment?" She asked.

Steve picked the tension in her voice up. Gently he replied, "Yes of course. Where?"

"The balcony. It's nice outside. I'll get us some coffee."

Steve, wondering what the matter was, went upstairs and walked through the bedroom onto the balcony and plunked himself on the comfortable couch. A few moments later Kathryn arrived with the coffee. She put the cups on the table and sat in Steve's lap.

"What's buzzing you so much that you need to talk to me now?" He asked her.

"I, uhh. I, uhh, forgot to take the pill for a few days."

Steve smiled, "Okay. How many days?"

"Ten." Kathryn squeaked, "What if I'm pregnant?"

"Then Miranda is going to have a brother, or sister. Unless you don't want it."

"You, you, you don't mind?

"On the contrary. I love the idea. As far as I'm concerned you stop taking the pill altogether. You are not too old to be a mum again."

"I love you so much. Your reaction is more than I hoped for and now I'm altogether stopping to take them."

Six weeks later.

The three of them were waiting for Patricia and her plus one for dinner. Everything was ready so Steve walked over to Miranda and laid out three used pregnancy tests in front of her.

Softly he said, "Your mother forgot to take her pill. You are going to be a big sister. Are you up to it?"

Astonishment showed on Miranda's face. Then her face transformed into one big happy smile.

"I'll need to get my act together if I want to be the role model, dad is to me. I'm going to make a happy dance now. I gave up hope of becoming a big sister. Ohh I'm so happy. I love you both so much and now..."

Suddenly a thought occurred, "Does that mean that you are staying together? You haven't been clear about that yet."

Kathryn looked at Steve who nodded her to go on, so she replied, "Yes. Oh, and I need someone to be my best woman at the wedding. Can you do that too?"

Miranda jumped up and danced around the room, pulled Kathryn and Steve on their feet and the three of them hugged hard, crying and laughing at the same time.

Things calmed down at the Poulsson house. They sat contentedly making plans when the doorbell rang. Steve folded himself, groaning out of his chair saying, "That must be Patricia and her company."

He opened the door and looked at a very nervous Patricia, holding hands with Noa Donne.

Steve smiled broadly and said, "You found each other I presume? Good!" Come on in."

Patricia and Noa deflated. When seated, Patricia stammered, "You don't mind? You don't seem surprised.

"Dear, dear Patricia, I long suspected that your sexual preferences weren't cast in iron and I thought you would make a beautiful and happy couple. When did it happen?"

"While you were in hospital. Trying to work out how to get you and Kathryn together again."

Kathryn laughed out loud and said merrily, "That, you accomplished very well. He made me pregnant, though it's my fault I can blame you now."

The faces of Patricia and Noa dropped a little. That didn't go unnoticed by Kathryn. She looked hard at the couple and finally asked, "What's the matter? You both look disappointed. You earned the right to speak your mind here, out with it."

Noa flushed so hard that it showed in her cleavage too. With her eyes on Miranda, she softly said, "It's sensitive and very private."

Miranda smiled and said, "I'll be in my room. Call me for dinner." and walked out of the house.

Steve and Kathryn waited patiently till one of their guests had enough courage to tell them what the problem was.

Patricia grabbed Noa's hand and started, "We are going to marry."

Steve and Kathryn smiled happily. Kathryn said, "Congratulations, but that's not all to it."

Noa clenching Patricia's hand, went on, "And we want a baby. Steve's baby. But now you are pregnant already..." She didn't finish her sentence.

Gently Kathryn asked, "Who wants to be the one carrying the baby and how did you envision getting pregnant?"

"Well, before you two reconciled Steve would impregnate Noa the natural way. We talked about Steve as a lover and she dearly loved to experience that, also because Noa knows and likes Steve very much and trusts him as I do."

That is out of the window now, but we still like to have a baby with Steve's DNA."

It was silent for a while.

Suddenly Kathryn said, "And if I gave permission, with provisions, to do it as you originally planned? "

Steve stared open mouthed at his ex, and future wife. "What? I'm here too. Do I get a say?"

Kathryn kissed him on the lips and whispered softly, "Babies must be made with lots of love and not in a cold sterile room and glass jars and syringes. Please trust me, follow my lead and do as I ask?"

Dumbfounded Steve nodded his assent.

Not only Steve was stunned. Two women sat with red heads and wide eyes on the couch.

"What, what do you mean? " Patricia, finally brought out.

"I just said to Steve that babies should be made with lots of love and not in a sterile chamber. So, I have a proposal. And I tell you why I offer it to you." Kathryn told her guests.

"First, I feel indebted to you for knitting us together again. Second, both of you are dear friends of Steve and you trust each other implicitly. That's why I trust you and hope that I'm allowed the same trust and love you both have for Steve. To earn that trust I must show that I trust and love you too."

Kathryn took a deep breath, "I propose that Steve makes love with Noa as in your original plan, but Patricia and I will witness it. So, we honestly can say that the baby is conceived with the assent of all of us.

"Steve is very fertile, as I can witness so it shouldn't take long for Noa to get pregnant. And I can imagine that Patricia wants the same treatment. You think about it. I don't want to hear an answer before next week. Now, let's call Miranda and have dinner."

Sunday morning, two weeks later.

The bedroom was silent but for Noa's whimpering. She held Patricia's hand, looked at her, love in her eyes, and finally whispered, "So that is how it ought to feel."

Steve, spent, lay beside her while Kathryn was dabbing the sweat from his forehead. She kissed him, looked at Patricia, "I'm so proud of him. Tomorrow he's mine again and after I'm done, he won't be able walk anymore.

Patricia lovingly looked at her woman, "I'm proud too. You were afraid weren't you, my love? And you still went on with it."

Noa had a sated look in her eyes and she smiled saying, "If I knew that it could be like this, neither of you would have had a chance after his divorce."

She looked at Patricia, "Don't be afraid. I am truly yours. You are the female equivalent of Steve and he is already taken by Kathryn."

Kathryn asked, "Why were you afraid? Steve is a very gentle man."

Noa looked pained, "My first and only experience with a man was terrible. I thought I was in love and he relentlessly pushed me until I finally gave in. I needed a doctor after that to sew me up."

Later that evening after a passionate bout of lovemaking Kathryn and Steve were snuggling in. Kathryn pondered a moment about how to answer Steve's question. He wanted to know why she proposed making love to those two women.

She expected it and knew the answers but not how to formulate them. She thought, The hell with it. I'll just start. And Steve, if he doesn't understand it completely, I trust him to ask me to clarify it better.

She started, "Atonement, love and curiosity, I think. Atonement for what I did to you, but that didn't work out because I really liked to see you, in a non-sexual way, turning a woman into a heap of incoherent mush.

"I was so proud of you. Those two women helped you, each in their own way, through the worst time of your life and I love them for that. This is the only way I can give them something that is generally thought of by other women, as mine and mine only, namely a part of you. I don't know how to say it differently and I know that you are mine, but the gift is in sharing you. The last reason is a bit kinky. I sincerely was curious how it would look if you gave your gift of love to another woman and I thought it was spectacularly beautiful. Especially because all four of us were there to witness it."

Epilogue.

Eight months later

Four women, one man and one baby boy were sitting in the living room. One woman handed the little boy to his big sister to have him burp after she breastfed him.

Miranda crooned, "Anthony, little bro. Show them how good you are at burping." When Anthony had shown how good he was, she took him upstairs to bathe him and put him to bed.

Kathryn looked at the two pregnant women. Noa, now heavily pregnant with child and Patricia four months along.

"Letting Miranda to attend the birth of Anthony was the best decision we ever made, bar marrying again. She was so impressed by the birth of a new life that she decided to become a midwife. She finally has a purpose in her life. For me life can't get any better. I have my man back and I'm completely utterly in love with him."

Steve added, "I can't agree more. I'm exactly where I want to be. Here with my wife, children and in the best company I can imagine."

The End.