Unblended Ch. 14

I recovered first and took my seat gracefully, bowing my head to Donna as I did so. "Maximus," I said quietly. That seemed to shake her loose, and she flashed me a cocky grin.

"Sabina," she said with a bit of deep swagger, "you look incredible, as always." From that point, I knew we were in full in-character mode, the pair of us complete suckers for this kind of deep roleplaying.

"I missed you in my bed last night," I purred, pitching my voice up and gently caressing Donna's bicep without actually looking at her.

"A champion's work is never done," she replied, flexing a little under my touch, "you know the thrills these housewives chase after."

"I do, indeed. And their husbands, I imagine." I glanced over at Katie Gibson, seated to my right, and she appeared to be hanging on our every word. "I appreciate all you do for us, my dear Maximus, I do hope you'll allow me to prove it later."

"I look forward to it, my lady."

I turned to Katie fully and gave her a warm smile. "Councilor, how lovely to see you again! I trust the city remains in good hands?"

She was clearly out of her depth, and stared blankly at me for a moment before finally responding. "Uh, it's... it's fine?"

"Excellent news," I said, reaching out to touch her forearm. "Is this okay?" I asked, leaving my hand out of reach. When Katie nodded, I gently ran my fingers down her arm towards her wrist. "It's men like you that secure the success of everyone, I only hope I am able to play some small part in the prosperity of our wonderful city." I could feel her shiver beneath my touch, and I started to understand the kind of power someone like Catullia Sabina Quarta could wield over the rich and powerful in the ancient empire.

"Hey, Ace," Donna said, her voice lightening a bit, "maybe tone it down a bit?" I looked around and saw my classmates watching with extreme interest.

"Sorry," I said, my voice deepening to its normal octave, "I'm pretty excited for this."

"(Attention!)" Ms. Scolari's sharp command arrested everyone's attention as she swept into the classroom right at the bell. "(Good morning, students!)"

"(Good morning, teacher!)" we all responded a little less sharply. It was early yet, and we weren't exactly skilled at switching between languages yet.

"So, I see we're ready to get to know the players of our little city," Ms. Scolari said, casting her gaze over us in approval. When she got to Donna and me, she rolled her eyes and gave us a smirk. "Some of us more than others, it seems. Let's get to it, eh? I'll call the roll, and each of you will make a few personal remarks about yourself. There should be time for a few questions if anyone has them, and then I'll give you your reading assignment for tonight. Oh," she fixed me with a stern look, "try to keep the commentary appropriate?"

"What?" I protested, raising my hands defensively. That broke the ice nicely, and we started learning about each other. The class was a mix of people from all walks of life: city administrators, military personnel, merchants, artisans, the priestess of the local temple of Minerva, and a number of local "celebrities."

The presentations were all super interesting, and I found myself taking notes the entire time as everyone walked through their role in our little society. Donna really got into the theater of being the beloved champion of the local arena, and she channeled a bit of the Macho Man into her portrayal of Maximus Ventilus Agrippa, with flexing and preening worthy of the greatest wrestling heels.

"Well," Ms. Scolari said, looking down her list, "that leaves Mr. Wayne." She looked at me with a broad smile before gesturing to the front of the room. "Madam, the floor is yours."

"Thank you so much," I said, walking gracefully to stand in front of everyone. I took a breath and reminded myself to not go overboard. "I don't know if I have anything of interest to say, if I'm being honest. My name is Catullia Sabina Quarta, if introductions are required, but I believe everyone here is familiar with me and my... hostelry," I paused as a few people laughed, "so I'd rather not bore you all with pretty words of no real substance. I only hope you all know that I and my staff are happy to meet whatever needs the city asks of us, and I take great comfort in being of assistance to you. After all, when we are at our best, the city prospers, and as the city prospers, so do we all."

"Ms. Quarta," Ms. Scolari said, "just to be clear, you are the owner and operator of what, precisely?"

"I run a rather large inn and tavern, catering to both travelers of all kinds as well as to quite a few local patrons. We specialize in providing a place to relax and receive personal care and comfort after the rigors of the day's travails. Or, sometimes, in the middle of them. Duties as required, one might say."

"It's a brothel," Phillipa Morse (commander of the city guard) said gruffly, "let's just call it what it is."

"Now, Captain," I said, chiding her, "you well know that my establishment is the finest in the city, I would hardly be so uncouth to advertise it as a mere bawdy house. Besides, you didn't seem to mind when I attended to your needs in the past."

That got the expected reaction from the class, and Phillipa gave everyone a stern look. "Hey, I'm not the only one that spends the odd evening at Sabina's, and you all know it!"

"I don't mind admitting it," Katie said, "I find her counsel extremely helpful at times." There was a bit of murmuring as much of the class agreed with her. With a smirk, Katie added "As does my wife, on occasion."

"Like I said," I responded demurely, "I am only too happy to provide whatever is needed, be that a friendly ear, a few words of wisdom, or encouragement of a more... personal character."

"Thank you, Ms. Quarta," Ms. Scolari said, gesturing for me to resume my seat as she took over. "Catullia would normally be allowed to ply her trade so long as she and the courtesans that work for her are properly licensed, and she brings in quite a bit of revenue to the city. Outside of that, lenas and meretrices were not considered upstanding members of society and would generally be shunned by the higher echelons. However, as you have no doubt noted in your materials, she has a number of personal connections with many of you as well as to the various levels of city society. You may wish to remember this as the city grows and faces whatever problems might arise."

For homework, we were asked to read up on the ancient Roman city of Forum Livii, upon which our theoretical city of Lucanus would be based. There was just enough time for a quick vocabulary quiz, which was met with the usual groans of students unprepared for it. Ms. Scolari smirked and said something flippant in Italian ("keeping us honest" was my best guess), and there was a sudden hush as we all worked through the sheet.

*****

My parents were both out when I got home, which suited me just fine. Mom would be in court all day, and Mama had to run up to Boston for some work-related things and wouldn't be back until dinnertime anyway. That gave me plenty of time to get a fancy-ish dinner prepped, and I flexed the culinary muscles I'd been building up with Mama. It was my first time spatchcocking a chicken on my own, but I thought I did a pretty good job with it.

Mom and Denise got home first. I'd just taken a bottle of burgundy out of the wine cooler to take the chill off, and Denise commented on the smell of dinner filling the house.

"Betty must have gotten back already," I heard Mom say as she walked into the kitchen. "Oh! Andrew!"

"Hi Mom," I said, giving her a hug and a light kiss on her cheek, "dinner should be ready in about 15 minutes, if you want to change."

"Uh oh," Denise said, following Mom in, "someone's angling to get laid, I think."

"Nah, actually," I said, surprising her with a similar hug and kiss, "I wanted to have dinner with my family tonight, I decided to pull out a few stops. Though, I probably should have asked if you already had plans first."

Denise ruffled my hair with a grin. "We do now, Ace, thank you so much. I think I will get changed, now that you mention it." She headed off to the guest room as Mom agreed and headed up to do the same. Once they came back in loose sweatshirts and yoga pants, I poured them glasses of wine and pulled out chairs for them.

"Such a gentleman," Mom said, giving me a warm smile.

"You sure you're not trying to bang your mom again?" Denise asked with a laugh.

"Scout's honor," I said, "I really just want to have non-sexy family time. Is that so hard to believe?"

"It is for me," Denise replied, "I'm hardly family."

"Of course you are, Mother, don't be silly," I said, turning to pull the veggies and potatoes from the oven. I thought it sounded nice and would make my position on Denise joining our family very clear. When I turned back around, she was giving me a weird look.

"Maybe ease into it, Andrew," Mom said with a laugh, "I doubt she's ready for the full 'loving child' experience."

"No, it's fine," Denise said quietly. I thought I noticed a bit of moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes, but whatever mood had taken her was quickly dispelled. "Don't get any bright ideas, though, we're still not having sex."

"Heaven forfend."

I heard the garage door opening again, signaling Mama's return, and pulled a bottle of beer for her and a soda for me from the fridge.

"What's goin' on?" I heard her ask from the door.

"Good timing!" I called. "Dinner's just about ready!"

Mama walked in and gave us all a good look. "Shit, Slick! You fixin' for another blowjob?"

"That's what I said!" Denise said, raising her wine glass.

"Nope," I said, handing Mama the beer and holding my soda up, "just family dinner."

"Well, alright alright alright," she replied in her best Matthew McConaughey as we clinked drinks. She took a quick sip before setting on the counter and running upstairs to "clean up a bit." She wasn't long, and I had the chicken portioned and ready by the time she got seated.

What followed was one of the nicest dinners I'd had with my family in quite some time, certainly since my birthday. It felt great to just spend time together, talking about what happened that day, getting chewed out by Mom for coarse language, complaining when Mama got a pass for it, and generally falling back into what passed for normal with us. Despite Denise's earlier protest, it was pretty obvious that she was absolutely a member of the family now, and I marveled at how the dynamic between the three women seemed completely unchanged from when it was just Mom and Mama. It was also very easy to see that they were all deeply in love, given how joyful they all looked together. I suppose I looked the same way, to some extent, and I considered how lucky I was to have them all in my life.

For once, I didn't have to do the dishes. Mama told me to sit my ass down as they all worked together and got things cleaned up and put away. When they were done, Mama and Denise went into the den to get something. Mom took the opportunity to hug me from behind and kiss my cheek.

"This was wonderful, Andrew," she said, "thank you. We really needed that."

"Me too," I said, wrapping my arms over hers. We stayed like that until Mama came back with the Scrabble board and the mahjong set and Denise got a pot of coffee started.

"Oh, Jesus," I said as Mama started setting up.

"What?" she said. "We ain't had a good ol' family game night in a long while, I figure we're about due."

"Yeah," I said, "and I'm guessing you forgot what happened at the last family game night."

"That was pretty brutal last time," Mom said with a laugh, "though Andrew shouting 'never again!' at the top of his lungs was hysterical."

"First off, we ain't playin' Monopoly this time," Mama said, "and second, it were his own fault gettin' hornswoggled."

"Next time," I vowed, "you'll get Pennsylvania Avenue when you pry it out of my cold dead hands, you son of a bitch." Denise was howling with laughter by this point.

"Language," Mom scolded me.