Mike & Karen Ch. 21

A certain dorm room, March 1987...

Karen was humming and singing to herself as she glided around the dorm room, not just tidying up, but making things even prettier than they were before. She didn't take any particular notice of the door opening and her friends coming in.

"Ooh, someone looks like she's on Cloud Nine," Mona said in a sly tone, smirking as she watched her good friend dance almost balletically around the dorm room.

"Cloud Ten, maybe," Karen replied, her lovely, lyrical voice a joy for them to hear.

"Did you get laid really good or something?" Janet asked as she leaned against the wall and just watched in amusement, her arms crossed.

"Forgive me for dropping into the demotic, but no, I did not get laid really good," the bronze-haired beauty said, adjusting a vase with flowers that sat on a dresser she shared with Lisa. "Something better, in fact."

"Y'going to Maui for the break?" Lisa asked as she put down her bag and sat on her bed, watching her roomie.

"No, I'll be right here," Karen almost sang as she turned and smiled at them all warmly. "I'll be right here and getting a visit from my dearest and most beloved friend from boarding school - Lady Jennifer Penrose, the heiress to the title of Greymoor..."

Mike & Karen

NOTE: If you follow my stories, this chapter contains many teasers and spoilers for Freja & Jeanie chapter 4, which was published alongside it, and is intertwined. There's context to be had.

Disclaimer: All characters are 18 years of age or older while actively engaging in sexual activity. This story is a prequel/sequel (sprequel?) to my other work, Alex & Alexa. As always, many thanks and gratuitous panty shots from Freja and Jeanie to my long-suffering editor and beta-reader for their assistance in polishing up and improving this work. Reviews are welcome; flames will be snickered at and deleted with extreme prejudice. Enjoy!

Please Note: There are incest themes with a secondary couple in this story. Just a forewarning.

Chapter XXI- Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still

Blackwell Manor, the present...

"So lemme get this straight," Alexa said as she eased herself into a comfy chair in the main library, sitting with her nephew-husband Alex, her older sister Karen, and her brother-in-law Mike. Fixing drinks nearby was Valentina Prospero, one of the Manor's two housekeepers, and with whom Mike and Karen had an understanding. Alexa thought it was cute. "Fre and Jeanie went down to L.A. to try and sell that kinetic makeup, totally bunged the whole thing up, and now need our help?"

"That is the short version of it, yes," Karen said, smiling and nodding at Valentina as she handed her mistress a martini. Valentina was wearing her preferred attire, which was a very well-made but highly scandalous French maid outfit. The black skirt fluttered around her hips, occasionally flashing her panties underneath, while the bodice top enhanced her cleavage delightfully. She worse a black lace choker with a glittering stone fixed on the front around her neck, a symbol of her devotion to her employers. "But before I expend any energy on explanation, I wanted to know if you two could spend the break doing something other than studying without compromising your grades."

Alex shrugged. "The profs're constantly reminding us they're thankful for all that work last summer; we really saved their bacon, apparently. They've been giving us extra lessons and help. They'd probably give us our diplomas if they could, because we're that far ahead. I'd have to miss a whole semester before I could flunk it."

Alexa nodded at her nephew. "What McWordy said. I can take a week away from the books without blinking."

"Karen and I have discussed it, and since Freja and Jeanie are in need of help, we thought you two should come along, as their best friends," Mike continued, accepting a single-malt Scotch on the rocks from Val and nodding his head to her. She smiled almost worshipfully at the giant man and went back to her cart, preparing drinks for Alex and Alexa. "We'll likely be there for the entire break, and it would probably mean the world to them if you were there as well."

"Not like we haven't pulled their asses out of the fire before," Alexa quipped, smirking at the memories from the month prior, when she'd 'loaned' Alex to Jeanie to pretend to be her husband while her overbearing and bigoted grandparents visited. "And I've never been to California."

"This will be good for your Blackwell training, then," Karen mused, sipping at her martini. Valentina was learning quickly; it was surprisingly good. "While we're at it, we'll visit the wineries that our family owns; it's been a while since I have been down and inspected."

"Jeez, I keep forgetting we own wineries down there, but I remember mom telling me," Alexa breathed, shaking her head. "I dunno how you do it, Kar, keeping all this stuff in line and also doing your own thing at the uni."

"It's called delegating and paying people well, Alli, you'll get the hang of it one day," Mike said simply. "Now if we're going to do this, we need to go tomorrow morning, because the girls are panicking. Make sure you get your animals looked after and any other appointments are postponed, for at least a week. That way, we're covered."

"Well, okay, how're we getting down there? Can we catch a flight on such short notice?" Alexa queried as she accepted her screwdriver from Valentina.

Karen shook her head. "In days gone by, we would have just taken the Challenger."

Alexa made a wry face. "We own a Dodge? I'm not one to quibble, but even if we all take turns driving nonstop and pee in bottles, isn't it still gonna take us at least two days each way?"

"I, no, Alli..." Karen said, given pause by her little sister's mistake while Mike and Alex both restrained themselves from laughing. "I mean our father purchased a Bombardier Challenger 350, a corporate jet."

Alexa paused mid-sip, her eyes growing wide. "We own a fucking jet?"

"Blackwell Enterprises does," Karen replied, shrugging. "As chair and CEO, I can appropriate it as necessary. I keep it here in Toronto, at Downsview, just to tick off Roddy, since he has to come to it now."

"We own a jet?" Alexa asked again, still in disbelief. Alex was giving his wife a look, worried that she was stuck on repeat. "Like, one of those annoying zillionaire jets?"

"I wouldn't say annoying, or zillionaire, but if that's how you care to frame the situation, then, yes," her sister said, hoping her little millennial sibling worked through her outrage quickly. They didn't have long. "It used to be a Challenger, but our progenitor traded it back a few years ago for a larger and more comfy Global 6000. It seats ten comfortably and can get us to California in one jump. We'll take it to Napa and then meet the girls."

"It's not called the Thunderhawk, is it?" Alexa asked suspiciously.

"And it's time that we all got a move on," Mike announced, standing up since he'd finished his drink and patently avoiding the question posed. Alex followed suit, as did Karen, followed by a reluctant Alexa. "You two go get your things ready for tomorrow morning and make your pet arrangements. Kar and I will talk to Tatyana. Go."

Alex pulled his wife out of the room, with Alexa still muttering to herself. Once they were gone, Mike turned to look at the other person in the room. "Miss Prospero?"

Despite standing nearby, Valentina squeaked and stood up straight, her hands folded in front of herself at the sound of his booming voice. She curtsied, making sure she got low enough to show her cleavage. "Master?"

Karen smiled. "We have some questions for you, my dear. Are you enjoying your current position, and all of its considerations?"

Valentina blushed, but also seemed flustered. "I... Mistress, I..."

"Breathe, darling," Karen almost giggled, stepping forward and taking the brunette girl's hands in hers and smiling warmly. "Just answer with complete honesty. Do you like how things are right now?"

She was almost flushing crimson, but Valentina swallowed and forced herself to answer with the answers they were actually looking for. "Yes, Mistress, I... I loved my job before you and your husband became intimate with me, and my... my Master and Mistress. It's only been about a week and change with this understanding, but... it's Heaven."

"Good," Karen said, nodding. "Because you should come with us."

Valentina blinked. "I should?"

Her mistress shrugged. "Under these circumstances, it might not be a bad thing to have along a personal assistant, if you will."

"What... what will I be doing?" asked the servant girl. Because that's what she wanted to consider herself, to call herself- their servant. Not just an employee, but something more... personal. She almost craved it.

"I don't know just yet, but it's better than to be safe than sorry," Karen mused. "Alex and Alli are very likely to be spending a lot of time holding Freja and Jeanie's hands, and it wouldn't be fair to keep pulling them away to take care of things for us, would it?"

Valentina didn't seem to know what to say.

"There's no wrong answer here, darling," Karen said quietly, in a soothing voice that made her servant's knees weak. "All we want to know is if you want to accompany us to California for a week. If you would rather attend to matters here, that is fine as well. But we thought we would-"

"I'll go!" Valentina blurted, interrupting Karen before blushing furiously and putting her fingers over her mouth. "Sorry!"

"You're fine, Miss Prospero," Karen laughed, her voice tinkling like crystalline rain. "While Michael packs for he and I, I'll get Glenda to take us to a few boutiques to get you some suitable clothes, oui?"

The servant girl blinked. "New clothes?"

"Well we can't have you wearing that around in public, can we?" pointed out her mistress, looking down at the kinky outfit she was almost stuffed into. "You need clothing that will speak to your assigned purpose. Now if you intend to accompany us, go get into some street clothes and we'll be off. Spit-spot!"

She popped Valentina on the behind and the girl squeaked and trotted off quickly to go back to her room and get changed. Mike chuckled and shook his head. "Think you'll be able to give her up when the time comes?"

Karen sighed. "Reluctantly, but isn't that the way of all things? It will be her choice. Until then, I think we can keep her happy."

"Anyone who chooses to move on from you, Gordon, is clinically insane," Mike rumbled, pulling her into his arms and hugging her. Karen sighed in deep contentment as she snuggled in close, feeling the world fall away as she was surrounded by his strength. "God knows, I couldn't do it."

"Then thank God for your weakness," she murmured. "Never go anywhere, Michael DeBourne."

He smiled as he stroked her shining bronze hair and looked down at her. "You've been thinking about Jenny, haven't you?"

Karen looked up at him, pretending to frown. "Why would you say that?"

"It's the anniversary of her visiting you on campus," he said, caressing her cheek and looking into those bewitching golden-amber eyes.

Karen thought about that. "Is it really that obvious?"

Her husband shook his head. "No, but I am well aware that every March, you tend to think back and remember things in a whimsical way."

His wife blushed and looked at his chest.

"Kar, you two were so very in love," Mike said cheerfully. "I've never required that you forget everything and everyone else once you chose to spend your life with me."

"I had a choice with Jenny," Karen said in a quiet, contemplative voice. "I had no choice with you, Michael."

He nodded. "I didn't either, Gordon. And I'm all the happier for it."

"I am too, I couldn't be happier," she said. "I guess we both have someone in our past that could have been, hm?"

"That may be, but I have no regrets," Mike assured her, not that he needed to. They both knew and understood how deep their devotion to one another was, and how unbreakable it had always proven, even before they could readily admit it. "And no regrets about the past that brought me to you, or you to me. I'm fully aware that I am happier with you than I could have been with anyone else. I hope you look back on it all as fondly as I do."

Karen snuggled in tighter, closing her eyes and speaking with every bit of love that sung in her heart for this remarkable man she had the privilege of being married to.

"I promise you, I do..."

***

St. George Campus, 1987...

"So, like, she's a real, live countess?" Lisa asked as she watched Karen moving around the room methodically, checking on things many times over. The redhead was sitting on her bed, feet pressed together and bouncing her knees, as was her habit when she was curious about something she was observing. Her normally supremely in-control roomie seemed to be almost... fussing. "Are you okay?"

"Were you expecting a fake, dead countess? You could lend a hand, instead of leaving me scurryfunging about on my own," Karen replied, moving a vase containing fresh orchids in them a millimeter to the left on top of a small table. "And yes, she is the heiress to the title of Greymoor. Her proper name is Lady Jennifer Penrose. One day, she will be the countess of Devonshire, although right now she's studying business and property management in Perth. After she's done there, Oxford, no doubt. She's a whiz at those subjects; her family's legacy and fortunes will be in good hands with her at the helm."

"I don't think I've ever met a real noble before," the girl mused, forgetting to help. "So, like, do I have to curtsy and stuff when she talks to me, or I talk with her?"

"There's a mental image," Karen almost laughed. "Did I ever tell you that if the eldest branch of my family had not emigrated to the colonies, I would probably be a marchioness now, along with several other annoying titles, like countess and baroness?"

"Huh, kinda not surprised, really," Lisa said, shrugging. "I mean, you certainly seem like an aristocrat. Is Jenny all princess-y like you?"

Karen smirked. "She can be, but she was much more given to flippancy and misbehaviour than I ever was when we were younger. Getting far away from her family allowed her to rebel quite a bit, as long as the school never told on her, which was thankfully rarely. I'm rather convinced you'll all quite like her, she's a gem."

"She must be, since you've been polishing that same spot on the vanity mirror for nearly thirty seconds now," Lisa pointed out, giggling. "Nervous much, Kar?"

"I'm not exactly nervous, I'm just very excited to see my Jenny again," replied the bronze-haired girl, but she stopped wiping the spot all the same. "We weren't just best friends, we were a team, an absolute force to be reckoned with, all the years we were together at boarding school. During breaks, she would sometimes come and stay with me at the Manor, and other times, I was allowed to go with her back to Devonshire, to her ancestral home, Heatherly Hall."

Lisa whistled. "Tough life. And you said, she's just showin' up here? No fanfare or long cavalcade of cars or anything?"

"No, darling," Karen laughed. "Jenny is very spontaneous, and she wanted to just show up here from the airport and see me in my natural environs, if you will."

"These are hardly your 'natural environs,' Kar," her roomie almost snorted. "But I'm glad you like 'em, because without you, I wouldn't even be here, y'know?"

"Providence just allowed me to do a good deed, and in return, I got a roomie, a dear friend, and a lover," Karen said warmly, smiling at Lisa. "I think Jenny will be crazy about all three of you, you're her type of people."

"A promiscuous law student, a kooky animator, and a neurotic Jewish lesbian activist?" queried the redhead.

"Like I said, her kind of people," Karen replied simply as the door opened, allowing Janet and Mona to come in. "Speak of the deadly sins..."

"Sorry, I was back in me room, practicing me Monty Python peasant English," Janet quipped, making an overly dramatic bow and speaking in an absurd accent. "'ow do I sound?"

"Like you had a stroke, dumbass," Mona said, popping her friend on the butt and making her fall forward on her hands and knees while Lisa and Karen laughed. "Any idea when her royal highness is due?"

Karen shrugged. "Any second now, really. She called from the airport, saying she was jumping into a cab and heading downtown to campus; that was two hours ago. She'll wander until she finds her way up to the room. I'm reasonably certain they'll give her my room number, she's hard to say no to."

"Well, for you, maybe," Janet sniffed, looking smug as she stood up and dusted off her sleeves. "Some of us aren't impressed by titles or titties, y'know."

"Really," Karen mused, sauntering forward and standing in front of Janet, her hands on her hips as she smirked. "Would you care to make a wager on that, Remington?"

Janet swallowed and shook her head. The last bet she'd lost with Karen ended with her teaching a skinny freshman virgin how to fuck a girl in the ass, with herself as the demonstration dummy. "Nuh-uh, no way. If you're willing to bet on it, then forget it. She must be a charmer."

There was a light knock at the door. All four girls looked at it.

"I guess you're about to find out, aren't you?" Karen said quietly, her golden-amber eyes lighting up. Janet, Mona and Lisa all stood side-by-side and watched as their friend went over to the door and pulled it open.

"Kat, darling!" Jennifer Penrose exclaimed as the two girls immediately swept one another into a big hug. They spun in a slow circle, moving into the room, giggling and hugging. The three girls just watched silently as they made squeaking sounds of delight. Mona moved her foot out and nudged the door closed. "Ohhhh, goodness, it's been too long!"

"Three and a half years!" Karen replied, still keeping her death grip on Jenny. "And it might as well have been three thousand!"

"I know," Jenny said as they finally broke the hug but still held hands, standing close and looking into each other's eyes. Mona, Janet and Lisa could see Jenny now, and they had to admit, Karen had been right about her friend, she was wonderful to look at. "I feel so very awful for being pulled away."

Jennifer Penrose was tall, nearly as tall as Karen, maybe an inch shorter. She wore her blonde hair up in a carefully done chignon and her light brown eyes danced with delight. She had a graceful face, with patrician cheekbones and a delicate chin. Her short brown coat had a white fur trim on it, and it was open, revealing a snug cashmere sweater over a large bust. She was wearing expensive form-fitting jeans that showed off her hips and shapely legs. Calf leather boots that tapered just over her ankles completed her look.

No doubt about it, this was a remarkably attractive young woman.

"I cannot believe you live here on campus!" Jenny breathed, her voice calming down so that they could hear how she actually spoke. She had what Lisa could only describe as a posh English accent, like Mary Poppins or what she figured the Queen sounded like, if she paid attention to that sort of thing. "You must have so much more freedom here than you would back at Blackshack!"

Blackshack? Mona wondered. Oh, she must have meant Blackwell Manor, a name Jenny and Karen had no doubt given the place. Fair enough.

"I cannot begin to tell you how much more," Karen said jubilantly, trying not to bounce and still holding Jenny's hands. "Nor could I begin to tell you how wonderful it is to hear Received Pronunciation again."

"With any luck, you've missed it as much as I've missed hearing rhotacisms unmarred by Devonian carrot-crunching," Jenny replied, squeezing Karen's hands, her eyes shining.