In the end, it wasn’t the drugs, it was the loss and sorrow that took her. I’d checked on her before I went to bed, hugged and kissed her and brushed her hair while she clung to me and told me stories about how she and daddy were so proud of their little girl, and how much daddy doted on me. I kissed her goodnight, and went to bed. As I always did, I woke in the middle of the night to check on her, to find her unresponsive. I panicked and called 999, an ambulance came and bundled her in the back while I called Mikey and told him to meet me at Hereford County Hospital. The nanny Mikey had engaged to help me with the kids while I looked after mummy seemed to be on top of things so I climbed in the ambulance to be with mummy.
By the time Mikey arrived, and it took a while, it’s a long way from Oswestry to Hereford, she was gone; her heart had just stopped, according to the A&E attending, and she didn’t know why, but the post mortem would be more revealing. I was in shock, as was Mikey; she wasn’t that kind of sick, she had depression, that was all, how could she just lie down and die for no reason? Well, apparently she did; to all intents and purposes that’s exactly what she did. The coroner recorded a verdict of ‘natural causes’, adding the rider that it was heart-failure, and that was it. Now there was just Mikey and I left of our family, my kids would never grow up in the presence of their grandparents, we were all that was left of the Kershaw family.
The funeral was small, just us and a few of her friends and colleagues, and she was laid to rest next to daddy. Probate quickly sorted out her legacy, mummy and daddy’s bank accounts, insurances, and the house, which had been in daddy’s family for two hundred years. I didn’t want to live there, too many ghosts, I’d be bumping into mummy and daddy’s memory wherever I turned, I had the house Max and I had bought in Ledbury, and Mikey lived in his beautifully restored and renovated eighteenth-century Georgian townhouse in Oswestry, the architectural project that earned him his RIBA certification, so we sold daddy’s house and put the money away for Finn and Lara for when they really needed it.
Now that we had no need to sneak around, our relationship swiftly escalated. I couldn’t bring myself to openly move in with Mikey, Finn was at the inquisitive age and he knew Mikey was his uncle, the wrong word from him in the wrong place could bring it all down around our ears, so Mikey and I worked out a living arrangement that allowed me maximum time with him, yet kept the fingers of suspicion from finding us. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I’d be up at Oswestry all day, and if it got late, and I usually made sure it did, I’d stay the night, secure in the knowledge that the kids’ nanny was there with them, and Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday I’d be home with the kids. Finn knew I worked for Uncle Mikey, Uncle Mikey was his favourite person in the whole world, so he didn’t ever think to ask why I had to stay over sometimes; Uncle Mikey was mummy’s big brother, just like he was Lara’s big brother, so nothing seemed amiss to him.
When i stayed with Mikey he went out of his way to romance me; I loved him, and he made sure to remind me in dozens of little ways that he loved me right back.; everything from little chocolate surprises on my desk to romantic dinners out of the blue, to roses and chocolates, to romantic picnics instead of spending the morning in the office, antiquing in Hay-On-Wye, or just an afternoon in bed with the interns conveniently scheduled to be somewhere distant so he could lock up, close down, and chase me around a little.
We experimented with different positions, something Max had never attempted; he was just a straightforward missionary-man, but with Mikey I got to ride him, to kneel while he took me from behind, his hands and fingers doing indescribable things to me, and all the different ways it’s possible to have oral sex, the things he could do with his tongue and fingers to leave me a gasping, orgasmic wreck. Mikey truly taught me what sex between a man and his woman should be like, and I lapped up his lessons and demanded more.
I’ll never forget the first time he fucked me outdoors, in a park of all places; it was early one Tuesday morning, before I was due to set off for home, we’d gone out for a walk and a last snogging session, I was backed up against a tree and I could feel him hard against me. He looked into my eyes and I knew what I wanted, so I unzipped him even as he tugged my panties down, a quick adjustment, a little feeling our way, and then he was inside me, feeling bigger and thicker than he ever had, and I realised he was as into this risk as I was; after all, any early morning dog-walker or jogger could have caught us!
Mikey fucked me long and hard until I was a moaning wreck, and when I came I had to bite down on his shoulder to muffle my piercing scream. Mikey groaned and pulsed deep inside me, filling me with his spunk in long, hot bursts; it was one of the best ever, especially as I had to walk back to his place with his deposit trickling down my inner thighs!
After that it was adventures in the park on a groundsheet under some bushes, against trees, against alley walls, proper dirty knee-tremblers that made me so hot for him, deserted shop doorways, any place we could think of, and of course, the memory of our dirty adventures and how anyone could catch us only inspired us to new heights in the bedroom!
Our life was good, and getting better; having Mikey three nights a week every week was a Hell of a lot better than no Mikey at all, and I suspect we were getting more out of life than the average married couple because it was always the anticipation, the sexiness of it, it never got old, and it never palled. We debated telling the kids when Lara was eighteen; I think they would have understood, I brought them up to be free-spirited, free-thinking individuals, not drones, but I always chickened out at the last second.
Mikey, like the sweetheart he is, never pushed the issue with me; they were my children, it was my right to tell them in my time and in my own way. Understand this, though; I wasn’t in the least bit ashamed of my relationship with Mikey, I just didn’t want to disturb the children’s lives with a flat-out declaration of what I’d been doing and for how long; they were my world, but so was Mikey, he always had been, and I loved him more now than I had when I first declared my love to him.
Finn was a strong and fair-minded young man, but he was also, rare among his generation, beautifully innocent and not really that worldly, and somehow I didn’t think coming out just then was a good idea, so I procrastinated and deferred, and dodged the issue until Lara was nearly nineteen, when it all suddenly became moot.
Carys and Mike: Found Out
Early Sunday morning, Carys was at home, packing her overnight bag, laptop, phone and charger, heading for Mike’s place early, seeing as Finn and Lara had gone away for the weekend and weren’t expected back until late. A discreet knock at the door caught her attention, and when she opened the door a large man in a black suit was waiting, with a shiny black limousine parked on the drive with the motor running.
“Mrs. Elliot? My name is Paul, and I’ve been sent to collect you, if you don’t mind…”
He indicated the car, and Cary’s grinned. Trust Mikey to lay on an extravagant surprise for her.
She followed him to the car, before remembering her overnight bag.
“Just let me…” she began, but Paul shook his head.
“That won’t be necessary, please get in. The door swung open and to her shock she locked eyes with Mike Kershaw.
“Rys? What are you..?” he managed before the heavy door swung shut and the lock thudded.
“Hey, what is this, who are you, what do you want with us?” demanded Mike, and a monitor set over the privacy shield flicked on to show the impassive face of Paul.
“Please relax, you are in no danger, I’m to take you to a meeting where you will learn things to your mutual advantage.. You will know some of the people you meet there, and I repeat, you are in no danger and will come to no harm. There is a console in front of you containing cold drinks and sandwiches, please help yourselves if you feel the need, it’s rather a long drive.”
The monitor flicked off and the silence in the cabin told them the car was soundproof, so there was no point in shouting. Carys huddled against Mike, her eyes terrified.
“Mikey, we’ve been kidnapped! What do they want, we’ve done nothing wrong?”
Mike cuddled her, holding her close.
“That man said we’re in no danger, but so far we’ve been locked in a car and abducted-” he opened the locker and stared “-and fed with smoked salmon and champagne! What the hell’s going on here?”