Authors: Lavenia Boswell
Jonathan J immediately leaned closer to her chair and placed an arm around her waist as she sat fidgeting. “
My
family already is home. Right here. But, you are right, we can certainly wait for a few weeks then you, my brother, can return to continue this.”
“Noooo,” Melody exclaimed loudly. “I want to go home, to my real home, the one I lived in for all those years.”
Jonathan J looked like she had sucker punched him before she added softly, looking at him, “Of course you will accompany Melissa and me. We can use this place as a vacation escape if things get too intense again, like before.”
“Sweetheart,” Jonathan J asked, clearly with his feelings hurt, “you don’t consider this your home too?”
Looking into his beautiful eyes she realized she’d offended him. Cupping his worried face with her hand she responded, “Of course this is my home too, Jon. I love it here, except we’ve all known it’s been a temporary situation. But, my friends and the remainder of my family are back there. Zane and Mary and Mark and even my being able to talk with my brother and mom. They’re your family too, after all, what with you and my other husband being identical. Seems I married clones and didn’t know it.”
Melissa and David passed a look between themselves as they hid their smiles.
Jonathan jumped up and tried to take both her hands as he stated, “Let’s get your
and Melissa’s bags packed darling so we can all go home. I haven’t slept a decent night since you disappeared.” He glared at Jonathan J as he tried to get Melody to stand up.
Melissa said to everyone’s surprise, “All my bags are already packed.”
Seeing her dad’s defeated, hurt and angry look she came forward to try and comfort and calm him before he exploded. “Daddy, Mom’s got to figure out a way for all of us to live together without a big ruckus. That’s all. It’s just that simple. Then you and Daddy J can get on with your lives of being happy and having David, me and our two brothers to keep you both on your toes.”
Jonathan J quirked, “Daddy J? Where’d you get that from?”
Before she could answer, seeing her face was blazing red, so like her mom’s when she is embarrassed Jonathan jumped in with, “I’m loving it, Melissa. It’s an honor and I thank you.”
She graced her Daddy J with her thank-you smile while she looked at her own dad to get his reaction.
David said, “Well, I hope you don’t mind me calling you Jon J or Jonathan J? I rarely call Dad, Dad except in private. Does Missy do the same?”
Jonathan J managed a real smile as he looked back at the young man that looked almost also identical to him and his brother. “That’d be fine David. You are a fine specimen of royal genes, I must say. Melissa has always called me Daddy or Dad, but now that she’s a full grown woman and will be interacting with others I can see where calling me that in public might raise more than a few eyebrows.”
“Dad, I’ll call you JJ, how’s that? When we’re with outsiders, that is,” she responded with a questionable look at him and her mom.
Both nodded their agreement.
Jonathan looked at his brother and spoke civilly for the first time. “We have a lot of decisions to make regarding telling our own parents . . . or not. And how to handle folks seeing us together. It’ll be a big shock for everyone that’s ever known either of us. And do we reveal what grandfather has done or cover it up? See . . . we have lots of things to consider.”
Melissa suggested, since the men weren’t trying to kill one another for the moment, “Why don’t we sit down and eat? I’m starving. I’ve been so nervous the past few weeks that I haven’t eaten much.” Marcie came running to her squawking and fussing as she dragged her monkey doll with her while she jumped up on Melissa’s shoulder.
David reached out a finger to the monkey and said, “Hey there girl, I’ve seen you on the video screen many times.
Elizabeth
is going to fall in love with you, and don’t get near any of the many children that’s overrunning the compound, they’ll all want you too.”
Melissa said, “I’ve had some cages made and we’ve caught five more, but they’re larger than Marcie. We’ve been training them for about a month now.”
* *
CHAPTER 12 * *
LIFE or DEATH
Melody was feeling oddly shy around her two men, and neither couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. They knew her emotions were fragile, especially now that she was pregnant again. With her the hormones surged within the hour of conception.
The servants kept staring at David and Jonathan as the meal was served to the two new guests.
Jonathan J sat at the head, like always with Melody on his right side and Jonathan sat beside her on her right with David and Melissa sitting across the table from them.
Both Jonathan’s tried repeatedly to get her individual attention, through touches to her arm, or a foot lazily grazed against her leg. Finally she burst out laughing at the insanity of it all.
David asked with a light laugh, “What is it Mom?”
Melody’s laughter had become nearly hysterical for a few minutes and she had to wipe the tears from her eyes before she could answer.
“I’ve always wanted two of Jonathan, but neither of us knew that was possible. And here I sit with two of the three most handsome and desirable men in all of God’s creations. One is my most beautiful son and the other two I married.”
Jonathan lifted her right hand to his lips and stated with a questionably look, “You married me, my love. Not him. Remember?”
With her head down she looked sideways at him and stated, “But I also married Jonathan J too. We had a ceremony that I thought was a wedding renewal. It was exactly like the first one, it was even televised to your parents and the whole planet, I do believe.”
Turning to her left she asked Jonathan J, “Wasn’t it?”
He nodded then smiled at her with a sexy grin that they all recognized. “Grandfather had the entire ceremony televised to everyone, saying that wedding renewals would become the new trend.”
“That was the second night after we arrived here,” Melody shared while trying to hide her tiny smirk as she cut her eyes at Jonathan J and kicked him lightly under the table to get him to stop leering in a suggestive way at her, here at the table, before Jonathan and both of her children.
David and Melissa smile knowingly at each other and David takes this as an opportunity to discuss things further.
“So, Mom . . . you
are
indeed a married woman, two times over, before God and man, to
both
of our dads, who are both now your legal and Bonded mates. Now, all you have to do is figure out the best sleeping arrangements and life can get back to normal.”
Melody gasped and gave him a big frown. “Stop that!”
David grins back at her and retorts, “What?! You know it’s the truth. We
all
know it’s the truth. Neither man can survive without you and I know you don’t actually want to have a man’s death by grief on your hands, so it’s simple. Aren’t you just about the luckiest lady in the whole known galaxies? Why, they’ll be writing sonnets and songs about you Mom.”
Both Jonathan’s are fidgeting and looking upset but to their own surprise they keep their mouths shut. It does appear to be about the only thing they can do, find some way for them all to live together as a family unit of sorts, but separate at the same time.
Melody blushed brightly. “David I will not be having a male harem. Behave!”
Melissa began to worry so she nudged David to shut up. “Mom, he didn’t mean it like that. Both of our dads do not make a harem, no matter how handsome and wonderful they might be. I’ve been considering the whole thing and I think maybe you should alternate days or weeks with them.”
David’s eyebrows quirk up and he says, “Ooorrrrr, you could just get a king sized bed. That’s what I think!”
“Oh, heck no!” Jonathan bellows as he throws down his linen napkin.
“No way on this green Earth!” Jonathan J retorts flinging down his own linen napkin and looking at his wife, like she’d said the words herself.
Winking at his mom, David admitted, “I just thought I’d throw that one out there for you Mom. You know, get their reaction, in case you
might
be thinking along those lines.”
Melody giggles in spite of herself, seeing the mischievous twinkle in her son’s eyes as well as Melissa’s too.
“I hadn’t even thought of it David . . . but,” Melody suddenly fans herself and turns red. “I’m trying to understand the severity of the situation and here you are making light of it. As if I’d let two men in my bed! R-Really!”
Suddenly she bursts into tears and stammers, “Everyone will think I’m some sort of whore, married to two men!”
Both Jonathan’s send a glare David’s way as they try to comfort her. He isn’t dithered one bit. “I just wish Mark was here or Zane, they’d help you see the positive side, Mom.”
Melody suddenly smiles, “Oh, David how is Mary? Has she missed me much?”
Jonathan answers, “She’s about grieved herself to death over you, as we all have, sweetheart. When I told her we were bringing you home she nearly choked me to death with the strength of her hug. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her smile that big. She does adore you, you know that, and so does Mark, and well, everyone we know.”
Melody saw a slightly fearful look pass over Melissa’s face. “Jon, did you tell them about our daughter?”
Everyone noted she’d used the term “our” in relation to Melissa.
“No . . . we thought it best not to give out too much information. We simply stated that David had been in touch with someone close to you who shared where you were and we were coming to get you.”
Jonathan didn’t bother to inform Melody that he’d planned to take her
alone
back home. That had been his personal plan, though David didn’t know and had been talking excitedly about his fantastic sister and how great it was to have a sibling and an uncle!
Those plans were down the drain now. It was clear Melody had no intentions of leaving his sorry brother behind. Taking her daughter would be alright, but it just grated on him in so many, many ways to see his wife’s affection for his dastardly brother.
They didn’t look exactly alike to him! There were subtle differences, despite the weight loss, why couldn’t other people see it, especially his son and her daughter.
He immediately felt guilty isolating her daughter in his mind. She was a sweet replica of her mom, except with his hair and eyes. Made a beautiful female, that is for certain. Actually, looking at her made him sort’a feel like she was actually from his own loins, taken while he was asleep or something. Strange. She liked him, he could tell, and his heart began to warm at her endearing looks toward him. Yeah, he knew she was his child, through Melody, but his all the same. He hoped David didn’t feel the same toward his brother. Glancing at his son, and watching his eyes as they drifted every so often to Jon J he realized that David did feel a connection to his brother. Spinning planet, hang it all!
* * *
Melody wanted to show David and Jonathan her little island. She was still wrestling over how she was going to handle the situation. She’d actually startled herself with her perseverance of the whole thing. She hadn’t fallen apart once – not yet. Why, she wondered?
Taking fugitive glances at the two men told her why. She adored them, clear and simple. They were collectively or separately her Jonathan. Both were absolutely identical, in
every
way. Even their lovemaking was the same, as well as their taunts and kisses. It was like the same man but sharing two bodies.
No way could she make one of them die! Knowing they would grieve themselves to death, as her “first” Jonathan had been doing the past almost two years, and her “second” Jonathan had done prior to whisking her away at the concert. Both men had grown thin when away from her. She’d thought Jon J’s weight loss had been because of practicing for the concert and all the energy he put out in his singing. But that had not been it. He was thinner because he’d been going nearly insane with hungering for her love and their Bonding.
Melody was suddenly thankful to their grandfather. His experiment had unexpectantly given her two of the finest men on or off the planet Earth. She would have never ever considered polyandry in her life, until now. Now she has no choice, none, and since the facts are known, she’d go a little bonkers herself if she knew there was another of her Jonathan’s walking around and he wasn’t with her. That’s not gonna happen she nods to herself with a smile and a calm heart for the first time since hearing Jonathan J’s voice on the other side of her bedroom door.
The biggest problem now is to figure out their living arrangement so they won’t kill each other!
Taking two golf carts and another with security men they traveled extensively over the island. David falls in love with the place and if Jonathan would only admit it he had too. Melody could see it in his eyes. The problem was getting him to look at something other than her. The dark rings under his lower lashes made her reach out to him quiet often.
It kept Melody a
little
tense, trying to make sure she divided her attention between both men – equally. By the time they returned to their mountain home she was tired out.
“I’ve got to take a nap for an hour, I feel exhausted,” she announced as she headed toward her bedroom.
Jonathan J immediately goes to her, swiftly followed by Jonathan. Turning she looks up at both men and sighs. “I think you both need to work on what we’re going to tell the family and your parents. David and Melissa need to talk with you too. I hope by the time I wake up you may have some solutions figured out. I want this transition to go as smoothly as possible with as little stress as can be accomplished.” She kisses Jonathan J lightly on his lips, then to his shock and instant anger she kisses Jonathan too before she walks away.
The brothers look at one another, then one says, “I do believe we’ve both been dismissed.”
The other snorts, then they both grin at one another for the very first time, for their thinking and responses are right on, identical.
It took a while for Melissa to calm her father down as she was forced to explain how she’d managed her frequent satellite meetings with David. Then she had to explain how she’d gotten them through their security defenses.
“Wow,” David gasped. “You’re a regular Matilahari! Bet you could teach our security teams a thing or three. You really need to do that too. We’re going to need it once word gets out that the famous Melody is back and there’s one too many Jonathans around.”
As Melissa set up a video chat for David and Jonathan with Mark back at home base all the men were in awe of her skills in the process.
Mark’s voice was filled with joy as he smiled into the camera from home. Mary popped her head in and so did
Elizabeth
. “So, you guys are bringing our Lady home again? Is she doing alright?”
Melody walked into the room about that time and hearing Mark’s voice and Mary trying to tell them to show her Melody she ran to the desk where everyone was gathered, except Jonathan J. He was pouting while sitting on the sofa just to the right of the desk, but he was watching and able to see the large monitor.