Dorsai - Full Circle

Kelly was there, and gave Claire a smile when she saw the two of us. The first thing Claire did was to thank Kelly for bringing us the drinks and snacks. Kelly simply told her "Oh, piffle. There's nothing to thank me for. I think if you're around here enough – and I hope you will be! – then maybe some day you'll get the chance to do it for someone else. Otherwise, don't worry about it."

The two of us moved to sit down – Claire more gingerly than me. She saw Kelly watching her, and started to say something; Kelly stopped her by speaking first: "Claire, I know what happened. When I had Dan make love to me like that, I had pretty much the same thing happen to me, too." – Claire was surprised to hear Kelly tell her that I'd had anal sex with her, too – "So there's no reason for you to be embarrassed. And if you enjoyed it, then there's no reason for you to be ashamed, either. How two people want to make love with each other is up to them, and nobody else has any right to say anything to them about it. Whatever you want to do with Dan – or me, or Jan, or any of us – its okay. None of us is going to think badly about you, or stop loving you, because of it. That's just not the way we treat each other. And if Dan hasn't already told you" – I hadn't gotten around to it, honestly – "you're welcome to come over here any time you want, for any reason you want, for however long you want. If your parents are worried about it, they're more than welcome to call me or Dan; either or both of us will tell them the same thing. You're part of our family, now – except that you know we're a lot more loving than any other family you're likely to see, and why. So please, do come back, and let us love you."

Hearing that, Claire started to cry even as she was looking pleased at what Kelly had said. Kelly saw her tears, and told her "Oh, don't start crying, or you'll get me going, too. Come here and sit on my lap and let me hold you for a while, would you?"

It took Claire about half a second to make the trip and get herself parked in Kelly's lap. Kelly hugged her and softly stroked her arm as she comforted the youngster in and effort to get her to stop crying – Kelly was a really great sympathetic crier in her own right. Claire's tears dried up before Kelly got started, thankfully, and the two of them sat in the chair for quite a while. I finally had to point out that it was approaching Claire's curfew; I knew she wanted to stay with us, but I suspected that another call to her father wouldn't be as well received. She gathered her things and let Kelly and I each give her a kiss and soft pat on the butt before letting herself out the door.

The rest of their time in the school, the girls stayed an active part of our family. Sometimes they'd come over to our place, alone or in various combinations; other times, they'd visit Jan or Robyn or Susan. For the first few weeks, Bonita tried to stay part of the group; but something inside her kept her from making the same connection the others had. So even though none of us ever excluded her from joining us, there was simply a bond between the twins, Evelyn, and Claire and the rest of us that Bonita didn't share. Gradually, she found other friends to spend time with; the last time she was over, she told me "I know that nobody is trying to keep me out of what happens. In fact, all of you are so nice about including me in stuff – and I guess that's part of the problem: that I feel like I am being included, instead of being part of it. There's something about all of you that's… different, somehow. You're all so good with other people; but with each other, its like there's something more to you. All of you have talked to me about it, and I can even kind of see what it is you're saying – but I just can't understand it the way you do. I know that it's not because I'm stupid or bad or anything; there's just some kind of… I don't know, way of thinking that you do that I can't. Even though I've known them for as long as I have, I feel like I'm outside looking in, now. It makes me uncomfortable, and I think it makes all of you uncomfortable sometimes, too. I wonder if I shouldn't meet some people that I understand better, and that I'm more comfortable with."

Along the way, each of the youngsters had the chance to spend time with Robyn, Susan, and even Candice – and learned that they really were part of our family. Once – thankfully, it was only once – both of the twins came over to be with Kelly and me while Robyn had the kids. Even with Kelly and I helping each other, having both Sheri and Crissy in our bed at the same time was an experience.

Bowing to necessity, Claire remained a virgin – or at least, half a virgin. With a little practice, it didn't take her and I long to figure out how much was enough, and how much was too much; that allowed us to enjoy our time together even more.

All of them, of course, were welcome any time. Sometimes, they came over for some fun and frolic. Other times, it was for advice about something or other, or simply to see what one of the rest of us thought about something. Often as not, it was so they could study – asking Kelly or me to help them understand some homework problem they might be having trouble with. After being with us that summer, their grades in school improved dramatically – something that made their parents much less concerned about their coming over, regardless of how long they stayed.

When they graduated high school, Kelly and I had them over – Robyn, Susan, Jan, and Candice were able to join us, too, as did Marilyn, for an entire weekend of serious debauchery.

All four went on to college, and graduated with honors. Claire is a financial analyst at the same company where her husband works. He's Chinese, too, which made her father happy; but he's American enough to make Claire happy. Evelyn got a job as a set artist out in Hollywood – which gives her the income to support her second career as a painter. At the end of that first summer, she gave Kelly and me a painting she'd done for us – it looks like the flight deck of a space ship, with me, Kelly, Jan and the four of them as the crew, looking through a window at space. Kelly, Jan, and I just love it – and it seems that every time I look at it, I spot some little thing that I hadn't noticed before. Evelyn is one damn good artist, and is getting the recognition she deserves for the paintings she does.

Sheri and Crissy went to the same college and roomed together – but pursued different careers. Sheri has her Doctorate in Sociology, while Crissy is a Psychologist. They've teamed up for several different projects that have made each of them pretty well known in her field.

Marilyn graduated Magna Cum Laude from school, and is back in the Philippines. She's head of an economic development group, and is becoming pretty well known for her calls for honesty – and the punishment of corruption – in government. One person was going to assassinate her because of it while she was giving a speech, but someone in the crowd spotted him when he started to make his move; the police managed to rescue him before the rest of the crowd killed him – even though there are some in the government that don't like her, she's popular with the average citizen. All of us worry about her, but know she's doing what she thinks needs to be done.

Daniel and Janet are getting close to finishing high school, themselves. Kelly and I are both proud of them, and tell them so; they've turned out to be damn fine kids.

Jan, Candice, and Susan have all married – and each of them managed to find a guy that finally 'got it', as Kelly says. None of us guys is interested in each other, but none of us minds if the girls want to be together. I don't know if it's surprising, or not, but none of the girls has any interest in being with any of the other guys. All of us still get together in various combinations and for various reasons, but its more like family than lovers. They're not coming over to share my bed, any more, either – which is fine with me: I still have Kelly, and she's all I need.