Editor's note: this story contains scenes of incest or incest content.
*****
Chapter 21 - Acolytes
Alice, Joan, and Pam sat in the living room of the core nursing Johnny, Lauren, and Robbie, respectively. They'd been chatting when Dave came in and sat with them.
Dave asked, "Everything all right? Need me to get you anything?"
Alice responded, "We're fine. Thank you for asking. You've been very solicitous for the past week."
Dave nodded, "I feel I should be spending more time with the three of you, and also Julie and Heather."
"What brought this on?"
Dave thought a moment and chuckled, "Guilt, I guess."
Joan laughed, "The gift that keeps on giving. Guilt about what?"
"Well, you've both had to do without sex for a while and will for another few weeks. You're now burdened with breastfeeding and baby things, and I'm expecting that you'll both miss the intellectual challenges that your jobs gave you at some point. We kind of turned everything upside down, and I thought I should spend more time with you."
Alice said, "Thank you for your consideration, but you don't have to go whole hog over and give up the rest of the Circle."
"Oh, I'll see them on Friday and Saturday nights, and Sundays."
"But you didn't go out and do any of that stuff last weekend?" Pam said. "You stayed home with us. I thought that was strange. Nice, but strange."
Dave countered, "The children will need more of my time, too."
Alice and Pam both laughed. Alice said, "Not right now, Doofus! They'll need you when their little brains develop and they each have a consciousness, but for now they're pretty much little vegetables that we pour mommy milk and formula into, and you know what comes out the other end. That'll last about nine months to a year, and THEN you can take over."
Pam added in a teasing tone, "No. No. He can be responsible for cleaning up the other end when all that processed stuff gets expelled."
Alice said, "Seriously, you have no reason to feel guilty. Pam and I know what we signed up for. The amount of help you've been giving is fine. We're glad you're connecting with everybody else."
"I just worry about robbing you of time and maintaining the intimacy that we've all built together."
The three women looked at one another.
Alice said, "If you start to change this, you will worry each of us a great deal. You're an opinion leader, and others may see or even misinterpret what you're doing. The whole nature of the Circle could change."
Dave said, "Well, with all the children, maybe it should."
A chorus of "No's" erupted from the three women.
Joan said, "Don't upset things. We like knowing that the rest of the Circle is motoring on while we are ... incapacitated slightly. In a couple of months we'll be able to participate fully again when the kiddies are asleep or in someone else's care. If you change things, there won't be anything for us to look forward to."
"But I could certainly be home without everybody else getting upset or seeing things the wrong way."
Alice said, "I'm not sure about that. What if you made all the other fathers feel guilty and like they should be spending more time with their wives or the woman they got pregnant. People would withdraw. Dinners would cease to have complete attendance. We couldn't sustain Bobbie and Maddy because the demand wouldn't be there. The children wouldn't get a chance to socialize as much. The sex would seriously diminish, maybe even below some critical threshold where it would never happen as a group event again. I'm begging you, DON'T SCREW THIS UP."
"OK. OK. OK," Dave said holding his hands up. "What would you like me to do?"
In about twenty minutes we'll all go off for cocktails and then dinner. Some of the kids will be asleep, others will get tucked into the nursery in the core. Maddy will do her magic, joining us when they're all asleep. Dinner will occur, and then most of the mothers, those not on the circuit yet, will collect their kids and retire for the night. Those able to will join the other women in hopes of one or two sexual liaisons during the evening.
"Your job, in all that, is to provide loving experiences to some of the other women, along with the other men. You are not shortchanging us in any way. You are our family's representative to the Circle, and the loving and caring we want to express to each other. Go forth and do that to at least several women tonight ... and tomorrow ... and the nights after that."
Dave nodded, "All right, but if you ever are feeling ..."
The three women interrupted him in unison, "We're NOT."
* * * * *
As the small plane's engine came to a stop and quiet filled the cockpit, Dave pulled his headset off as did the man beside him in the right seat.
"Congratulations, Mr. Prentiss. You passed your examination. I should add your maneuvers were some of the tightest and most accurate I've found in student pilots applying for a private license. Your instructors schooled you well."
"Thank you, Sir; I'll tell them," Dave replied.
After some forms and paper work, the examiner left. Dave walked into the Sky Ranch office. There were a dozen people there from the Circle, and everyone cheered and patted him on the back. He was already glowing, but the impromptu celebration made things even more special.