New Man Pt. 09

"Aunt Yvonne's."

What the hell was he doing... oh. Oh fuck me. Jenna.

I turned and waved off the guests. "He's just down the street," I said, boiling mad but so relieved I could faint. They headed back inside. Dakota called, "Should we come?"

"No, yeah... I don't..." I ran a hand over my face. I didn't know. I had to get to Isaac. Even if I knew he was safe, that need pulsed in me.

For the first time, I noticed Yvonne's feet. I stopped, and gripped her shoulders. "You're soaked. Go back to my place. I've got thermal socks upstairs. I'll be back in a minute."

"We're coming with you," Sarah said behind me. Her voice was trembling. The twins jogged down the street too, cute in a matching pair of Mrs. Claus outfits, Dakota's green, London's red.

"The Ayers are watching your place," Dakota said.

"I'm going to chew his ass out," I said.

"We all are," Yvonne said grimly.

But I wouldn't, because holding open Yvonne's door for me was a crying Jenna.

* * *

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, if I'd known he didn't tell you, I would have called you or Yvonne or someone," Jenna said.

"It's okay," I said as I approached, followed by the others. I gave her a quick kiss on the corner of the mouth. Inside, Isaac was just sitting up on a stool, a mug in front of him. The need to shout at him melted, and I rushed to him, grabbing him off the stool and crushing him to me in a bear hug. "Bud, I was scared shitless," I gasped. I usually tried not to swear around him, but I couldn't help myself. "You need to tell me... you need to tell me when you're going... shit..."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't... I... was just telling Jenna what you said and..." He burst into tears, and I rocked with him, coming down off that high of fear and adrenaline. The twins pulled us to a pair of chairs at Yvonne's table, and we sat, my hand still on Isaac's shoulder. "I was just trying to give you another Christmas present. I wanted Jenna to come home."

Home.

Fuck.

Everyone took a chair around us, or leaned against the counter or the bar. I squeezed Isaac's shoulder and finally let him go again. "I know you're getting older," I said, shocked at how hoarse and sore my voice was. I guess I'd been shouting a lot louder than I thought. "Your heart was in the right place and I can't get mad at you for that. But Isaac, I need your help. I need you to tell me or someone close to us if you're going to go off like that. I... I just... I just need you to. Okay?"

He nodded, not quite meeting my eyes. Jenna brought him the mug from the bar. It was filled with hot chocolate. He murmured his thanks, and Jenna squeezed his hand.

"We should... let them talk," Yvonne said, sniffing.

"Jenna?" I asked. "if you're not comfortable..."

"It's okay," she whispered. "I'd... I'd like that."

Yvonne, Sarah, Dakota, and London started to go, but I said, "Wait. There is one thing I need to tell Dakota and London. And we should all be here for it." The twins turned to look at me, London on the verge of tears, and Dakota's hand going instinctually to her sister's. "If I could have done this perfectly, I would have told everyone at once. I'm afraid you two are the last ones to hear."

"You're not moving, are you?" London asked.

"No," I said. I rose to my feet, my son watching me curiously. Yvonne moved to Jenna and hugged her tight, the two of them rocking together. Sarah took Isaac's other hand and squeezed it, smiling encouragingly at him before her eyes flicked back to me. I took London and Dakota in my arms, and I kissed them each gently. "It's very simple. I love you. I love all of you."

"Is there a but to that?" Dakota asked, trying for a chuckle and falling somewhere short.

"No. No buts. I love all of you. Thank you for being sweet to my son, and thank you for giving me..." I shook my head, unable to encompass all of it. "So much more happiness than a man deserves."

"We love you too," Dakota whispered, and kissed me softly.

London nodded, fanning her face. I kissed her too, and they came to Isaac, murmuring the words and kissing the top of his head. And then everyone did. Sarah. Yvonne.

And Jenna.

She was last, her hands trembling, and she stood Isaac up to hug him and kiss his forehead. "I love you both too," she said. And that was all I needed for the perfect Christmas.

* * *

Yvonne, Sarah, Dakota, and London took Isaac home. I sat at the dinner table with Jenna, our hands linked.

"I don't expect anything from you," I said. "I never have. I'm sorry if I-"

"Stop," she said. Her voice was as hoarse as mine. "I thought you and Morgan belonged together. That's why I ran. Not because I don't want to be Isaac's mother. I've wanted to be a part of your lives for a while now. Since before Thanksgiving. I realized I love him, and you, and I just... when you love someone, you want them at their happiest. That's you, with Morgan."

"No," I said. "It's me with all of you. And Morgan. If she comes to us, she has to be okay with me and the five of you. I love Morgan, and yes, I want to see her become a permanent part of my life and Isaac's. Maybe even marry her someday. But that doesn't take anything away from any of you." I lifted her hand and kissed it. "Can you live with that?"

"Yes," Jenna said, sniffing but smiling. "It's the best of both worlds. For me, anyways. Sarah will probably want to gut Morgan if you ever got married. But like I told you, I love my career. I love being on the road, or somewhere exotic. If you and I were something more... well, we're permanent, but if our relationship was needier, I would feel guilty about that, especially after my divorce. There would always be that question in my mind if I was hurting you like I did him. But this way I can see you both, and know you're going to be in good hands when I can't."

"Even if Morgan never shows up, that would be true," I said. "Do you want to come over? I'm going to guess the food's pretty well picked over by now, but we were going to do presents for the group after everyone's gone, and..."

Jenna got to her feet and pulled me up. "Yes," she whispered, and kissed me. "I'd love that."

* * *

All five of them caravanned with us to see Isaac off for his flight. He was quiet, and very pleased with himself now that Jenna was firmly part of our life again. I knew he was anxious to get going, but we kept him at the security gate for a long round of hugs and best wishes from his aunts. On his head was a baseball cap from Yvonne. His silky black button down was from Sarah. The winter coat was from London. His snazzy sneakers were from Dakota. You're expecting me right now to say his jeans were from Jenna, but nooooope.

We were both rocking new underwear from her.

"You needed it," Jenna told me when I opened it up, "and I assumed he did too."

Whether she wanted to be a mother or not, Jenna cared. And I loved her for it.

My little man accepted the last of the hugs from my girlfriends. I was strangely calm at the last, despite my worries about him. He came to me, and I knelt so we were eye to eye.

"Thank you, Isaac," I murmured.

"For what?"

"For her. For being you. For being my son. I'm proud of you."

He glanced up at my five girlfriends, and slowly grinned. "I'm proud of you too, Dad." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't screw it up again, okay?"

I snickered. "I'll try not to. Kiss your mom for me. And tell Rupert I liked his book."

"I will." And in the last minute, he seemed very small, and very afraid. "Dad?"

"Yeah, bud?" Don't cry now. Don't cry now. Don't cry now.

"Love you. Merry Christmas."

Shit. Waterworks.

I grabbed him in one more hug, and whispered in his ear, "Love you too. Merry Christmas, buddy."

* * *

You don't realize how much one person can fill a home until there's nothing left but silence without him. I wandered up to his room, smiling at the dirty clothes on the floor. I asked him twice that morning if he'd picked up after himself so he didn't have a mess to return to. I was sort of glad to see he was still the same old Isaac. God, he'd grown so much these last few months.

My girlfriends returned home, but only to change. I was still in Isaac's room, idly tidying up, when Sarah came into the house and upstairs. She didn't say anything as I dusted Isaac's bookshelf and window, but when I was done, she wrapped me in her arms.

"You know, I think I'm kind of fond of you," I murmured, kissing the top of her head.

"I kinda dig your butt," she said, pinching the part of me in question. "He's the best kid."

"He is. Got a lot of love from his aunts."

"Mm. Lionel?"

"Hm?"

She pushed back away from me, looking up into my eyes. "If I wanted to go off the pill...?"

"You want Garth to be your baby daddy?"

She swatted my chest, then pretended to think about it. "He does have a cute chin."

I took her hand and we sat down on the edge of Isaac's bed. "I'd be ecstatic to be a dad again with you."

"I think the time is right," Sarah said slowly. "Work's good. And I love you and I think you'd be amazing. Same with the girls."

"Is there a but?"

She scooted in closer to me and I wrapped an arm around her, taking the opportunity to graze some side boob. "What I'm going to say is going to sound mean. But... what if I turn out like Tina? What if I do this, and I think it's something I want, and then..."

I thought about that. "Do you remember the day Isaac got sick a couple weeks ago?"

That was a pretty avoidable incident. Too much milk or cheese upsets Isaac's stomach. He simply had too much mac and cheese at lunch one day, and wound up sick. I was across the city - the real city, not just Agramonte, which is a suburb. I asked if any of my girlfriends were off, and Sarah volunteered to go get Isaac from school. Instead of dropping him off and letting him suffer alone, she came in with him, waited for him to clean up, and then took him to work with her for the afternoon. He slept on a couch brought into her office, and that evening, she drove him home.

"Of course. Why?"

"You never complained once about it. You put his clothes in the washer, you made sure he was comfortable, and you treated him as kindly as anyone could have. Tina would have complained. You, you dropped him off and then ten minutes later, you came back with kiddo stomach pills for him to put in his backpack. Sarah, you're going to make a wonderful mom because you care. Because you're already asking this question." I turned to her and she was sniffling. I kissed her softly, and squeezed her hand. "The thing about parenthood is there are no easy nights. It's never going to be perfect for them. We're going to screw up, probably a lot. I did with Isaac. So did Tina. What matters is we never stop trying. And I don't think you would ever do that."

"Thank you."

"So what do you think? Be my baby momma?"

"I mean, obviously, if Garth's available, he has dibs."

I grinned and kissed her cheek. "Well, of course."

We stood up, and Sarah squeezed my hand. "You'd love him or her? The way you love Isaac?"

"I'd love them the way I'd love them. But with the same intensity? Oh absolutely."

"Good," she said. "Come on, then. I think we can sneak in an orgasm or ten before-"

"Lionel?" Dakota called from the first floor. "You decent? Please say no."

"Damn," Sarah said, eyes twinkling. "Well, I guess we won't be greedy then."

We came back downstairs as the twins eased out of their coats. I took them from them as Sarah told them the good news about our plans to try for a kid. London actually squealed, a thing I didn't really think women did when they were happy. And here I thought she was perfect. Oh well.

We didn't jump straight into crazy lovemaking. I made tea and coffee and we gathered in the living room, talking, laughing. I was still soul-weary from seeing off Isaac, but my girlfriends made it bearable. Yvonne and Jenna came by a few minutes later, toting bottles of wine and groceries to make homemade pizza later. The hour was still way too early to be doing any drinking, but my girlfriends told me that day, and every evening throughout Isaac's Christmas break, I'd have company, or be staying at someone's house. Sounded pretty good to me.

Sarah told everyone the news that she was going to go off the pill, and she was greeted with congratulations and hugs. Sarah singled out Yvonne in the group, and said, "And what about you?"

"Um..." Yvonne said, blushing. "I mean... you and I talked about it, but I didn't want to steal your thunder. Thought I'd ask Lionel tomorrow or sometime."

"You want to try too?" I asked.

She nodded tentatively, and the twins, who were seated on either side of her, grabbed her in a big hug. Jenna watched all this, a satisfied smile on her face. She nudged me, and said, "You're going to be one busy man."

"I suppose I can make time," I said.

Dakota and London looked at each other, and Dakota stood up to come around to her sister's part of the couch. All eyes were on them as she took her sister's hand and lifted her to her feet.

"So long as we're talking about big announcements," London said, very quietly. "We... have something we need to talk about."

With that, she turned, and cupped Dakota's cheeks. Their eyes flicked all around the room, but the time was then and there, and London leaned in to kiss her sister with all the warm passion they'd shown me when I was part of them hooking up for the first time.

"Oh my God," Sarah breathed.

"That's... that's..." Yvonne added. "It's beautiful."

Dakota broke away from her sister's lips long enough to ask, "It's not too weird for all of you?"

Jenna was on her feet in an instant, and crossed the room to them. They looked scared, but she wrapped her arms around them, kissing their cheeks. "No. Not too weird at all."

Sarah and Yvonne stood up and joined them, crowding in for a great big group hug. I stayed seated, sipping my coffee, watching. Sarah said, "We knew from the stories about you and Lionel one of you liked to watch while the other was making love. So it's not so much of a stretch beyond that."

Yvonne nodded and nuzzled her head against Dakota's shoulder. "How long?"

"Just a few weeks. Since just before Thanksgiving."

Three sets of eyes fell on me. Yvonne said with wonder, "Your date. Were you there for the first time?"

I smiled and set down my coffee mug. "Yes. They let me be a part of it." We talked about our amazing first threesome together, and more importantly, their hopes and fears about keeping it secret with as large of a group as we were. Everyone agreed to not say a word, of course.

Sarah said, "This is awesome! Congratulations, you two!"

The group gave London and Dakota another round of hugs and kisses, and the twins came to me, to sit on my knees and wrap their arms around my back. "The kids thing, I definitely want to wait for a few years," London said. "Until I figure out grad school."

"Same here," Dakota said. "But someday I want you to make us both pregnant."

"Jesus, that would be something," Yvonne said. "Both of you at the same time? Mmmm. Mm mm mm."

"Well," Jenna said, "what if we got in some practice right now? Help him figure out how all the naughty parts should connect?"

"I could always use a lesson or five," I said.

* * *

Five bared asses, all lined up in a row. I hummed a Christmas tune as I inspected them all, taking my sweet time about it, slipping my hands across the juicy flesh as I passed by. Sarah's, so big and curvy. London's, taut, small, but no less delicious. Jenna's bubble butt, full and so ready for my fingers. Dakota, so athletic and taut. Yvonne's peachy, perky butt.

All five women bent over the big bed, hands on the mattress as I touched, squeezed, fondled. I sighed. "I suppose you'll all do in a pinch."

"Boooo!" Dakota yelled. Yvonne and Jenna joined in. Sarah pushed off the bed and spun.

"Just for that, you don't get to touch until we say so," she said.

"So instead I get to watch the five of you?" I asked. "How is this punishment?"

I grabbed a chair from the corner and pulled it near the bed. Yvonne headed into the bathroom and pulled out what we collectively called the toybox, full of lubes and massage oils as well as a few choice toys from my girlfriends' collection. Since a lot of kids came around, we kept it locked. She dug out the key from my sock drawer and opened it up.

"What do we want, girls?" she asked the group.

"The finger vibes," Jenna said.

"Lube," Sarah said. "When he can behave, I want Lionel to take my ass."

"Not until we've all had a go first in our pussies," Dakota said. "I don't want to take like five showers."

The doorbell rang. I hurried to grab a robe and answer it while the girls dug out their favorite aids and what we might want close at hand. It was Victoria, Isaac's teacher. I practically yanked her inside to her mad fits of giggles.

"Come on upstairs," I said, dropping the robe right there at the door. Hey, if I needed to answer the door again, it would be handy to have right there. And okay, yeah, I definitely wanted something warm, female and soft touching me as soon as possible. "Gang's all here, except Jessica. She left on vacation already"

"Oooh, how much of a head start did you all get?" she asked, kicking off her cute winter boots.

"We just got naked and they're picking out toys" I said, helping her out of her top. "I'm in time out. I can look, but not touch."

I went to unclasp her bra, but Victoria danced backwards, grinning. "Then no undressing me, or else I might be tempted to help you break the rules."

I groaned. From upstairs, Yvonne called down, "Hey, Vicky! What toys should we dig out for you?"

"Five tongues should do it for me."

"Good. Bring up the whipped cream and chocolate sauce."

We did. I came upstairs to a line of toys and lube on the dresser next to my chair. My girls were figuring out the best configuration. "Two at the base, three at the head," I said. "One of you with me, watching."

"Oooh, we could tag in or out," Sarah said, bouncing happily and drawing every set of eyes in the room to her big breasts.

They high-fived, and Yvonne joined me on my chair. She sat on my lap sideways, legs dangling off as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. We kissed, playful and heartfelt, and she wiggled against my hardening cock.

"I love you, baby," I told her. "Did you have any idea that first time together it would wind up like this?"

She grinned. "When I brought you here, I knew I wanted to show you off. And showing Jenna meant everyone else would hear about it too. But this? How much I love you? And them?" She smiled and shook her head. "No. Nothing could have prepared me for that."

Yvonne kissed me then, the kiss of our relationship, long, slow, passionate. Despite the sexy things going on around us, Yvonne was my world for a moment. She brushed my cheeks with her fingers, and whispered to me, "Let's watch the show." I nodded, and she relaxed into me.

On the bed, Victoria was finally as naked as the others. Her taut bottom was to Yvonne and I as she asked, "Wait. You two really...?"

"Yes," London said. "And we're begging you and everyone else-"

"Keep it secret, yes, of course," Victoria said. The twins nodded. "You can definitely rely on me. This is the craziest relationship I've ever been a part of, but I wouldn't want to change it for the world."

"Dakota, London, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but..." Sarah started. She frowned, obviously thinking of how best to frame things.

"But you want to see us together?" London asked. Sarah nodded, blushing furiously.

"We thought you'd want to," Dakota said. "Besides, it's kind of hot showing off."

The twins linked up in the center of the bed and Sarah, Jenna, and Victoria took up positions around them. As the pair leaned in to kiss each other, Yvonne bore down on my hip, and I could actually hear her breathing change. This was turning her on in a big way. I think that was universally true. It certainly still had an effect on me, and likely always would.