“But I’ve worked for everything I have, I’ve worked damn hard. The glass ceiling still exists in the National Health Services, you know.”
“I have no doubt it does.” I folded my arms. “But when you invited Quinn back to your bed last night, that was trying to take something that wasn’t yours.” She stared down at her feet and pulled in a breath. “I’ve apologized,” she said.
“And it won’t happen again, I promise.”
“It might,” I said.
“No, no it won’t.” Her expression was earnest. “I value his friendship and in all honesty,” she paused and swallowed, “I would like to be your friend too.” She gave a half-smile. “A friend who has nothing to do with the hospital and is as open and direct as you are would be a refreshing change.”
I thought of my life with Quinn, Liam and the girls. Hilary and Karl up in Merthyr with their three kids who came to visit us every summer and Christmas. I had plenty of people in my life, but if I were to choose another person to let in it would be someone like Eve. She was magnetic, alluring and I could see why Quinn found her so appealing.
If only she weren’t such a threat to my harmony, then yes, maybe we could have been friends.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” Quinn said, striding into the kitchen. He’d put on a crisp white shirt with black pants and a fresh dose of his spicy aftershave wafted in with him. He walked over to Eve and pressed a fleeting kiss to her cheek. I’d been right, they were exactly the same height.
“Mm, smells good,” he said, coming to my side, sliding his hand onto my butt and planting a lingering kiss to my temple. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, fine,” I said, leaning into him. “Is Liam coming? This is ready.” 100
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“I’ll shout for him.”
“Would you like me to do anything to help?” Eve asked.
“Sure, get the plates out of the bottom of the Aga and I’ll dish up.” We sat at the large table, me next to Quinn and opposite Eve.
“So, Eve,” Liam said, glancing sideways at her. “Where did you work before Cardiff?”
“I was in Newcastle for six months and before that four months in Hammersmith.”
“You never stay anywhere long then?” Quinn asked, taking a sip of iced water.
“Just until the problems are ironed out, then they move me on.” She scooped in a forkful of chili. “This really is great,” she said, looking at me. “Just the right amount of spice.”
“I’m glad you like it. Liam and Rebecca would eat it much hotter, but then Quinn, Sophie and I can’t cope.”
“Is that the girls?” Eve asked, nodding at the sideboard behind me stacked with photos.
“Yes.” Quinn turned in his seat to point. “This is Rebecca with the blonde hair on her pony, Bramble. They’re a couple of speed demons, always dashing about and flying over jumps.” He smiled. “And this is Sophie with Jasper. They’re a little less wild, but only just.”
“They look delightful.” Eve turned to me again. “And Quinn says they board with their horses. It sounds the perfect childhood for pony-mad little girls.”
“They certainly love it,” I said. “But I’m glad they have each other. If they weren’t twins I would worry about them being lonely.”
“They don’t look identical,” Eve said, glancing back at the rows of photos.
“No, they’re not,” Liam said. “And you can tell by their looks and personalities.” He fell quiet and went back to shoveling in his dinner.
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I often wondered if he thought Rebecca was biologically his. I’d tried to bring it up in a conversation once and he’d snapped at me not to be so whimsical, his sperm had been killed with the nine months of chemotherapy Quinn had prescribed. But he and Rebecca really were very similar. She had the same color eyes as him, a dense navy blue, plus Rebecca was a lot easier going than Sophie, more relaxed in her skin. I’d never brought it up again—he’d seemed so irritated at the suggestion. Quinn, being a scientist at heart, just said it was one of the most unlikely probabilities he could imagine. I deemed it best not to dig.
“Can I ask something personal?” Eve asked, placing down her fork.
“Fire away,” Quinn said. He set down his knife and fork and undid the cuffs on his shirt before carefully folding them over a couple of times.
She paused and watched him. “I know you said you all live here, together, as a family.” She paused. “So do the girls consider themselves to have two fathers?”
“Yes,” Quinn said, picking up his cutlery again. “That’s right.”
“And whose surname do they have?” She gestured between Liam and Quinn.
“Gilbert–Rosser,” I said. “We double-barreled it for me when I married Quinn and Liam.”
She nodded slowly then twisted her mouth as if in confusion. “But isn’t it illegal to marry two men?” She circled her long, delicate fingers in the air, as if searching for words. “So how did you, you know, do it?”
“We’re not married in the eyes of the law,” I replied. “We had a commitment ceremony. A chaplain at the hospital Quinn knew helped us write vows that suited our needs and she performed a quiet and private ceremony in which we all swapped rings.”
“Ah, I see.” Eve took a sip of her wine then resumed eating.
“We changed my name,” I told her. “Sorted out wills so if anything happened to any of us everything would be taken care of, then when the girls came along we gave them the name Gilbert–Rosser too.”
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“So all three of you, in your eyes, became married after this commitment ceremony?”
“Not all three of us,” Liam said quickly. “I’m not married to Quinn, for crying out loud.”
“You’re not?” Eve turned to Liam, her perfectly arched brows raised.
“No,” Liam said with a bemused look. “Why would I marry a dude? I’m not gay.”
“But we do have a very strong bond.” Quinn glanced at Liam with a slight frown.
“Don’t we?”
“Yeah, sure we do,” Liam said. “We’re as close as brothers, if not closer, and I owe you a lot.”
“You mean with the…” Eve touched her hand to her head.
“With the fact he cut into my head and took out the bad shit,” Liam said. “Yeah, I owe him for the last fourteen years I wouldn’t have had if he hadn’t been brave enough to operate when no one else would.”
Eve nodded and my earlier suspicions were confirmed. Quinn had told her about Liam’s past. He didn’t tell just anyone—it proved the depths of the conversations they’d shared.
She took a sip of her drink. “So, let me get this right, Ariane has two husbands but you both have just one wife.”
“Yes,” Quinn said. “Liam and I share Ariane. We’re both busy, we both work crazy long hours, but sharing her means she gets plenty of love and attention. Individually we would neglect her, she would surely leave, but this way there’s nearly always one of us around to take care of her and give her what she needs.” He paused and touched his hand to my forearm, captured my gaze with his. “Is that right?” I smiled and nodded. “Yes, yes it is.”
“Wow, lucky Ariane,” Eve said, her eyes widening at me.
“I am lucky,” I said. “Probably the luckiest woman on earth.” 103
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Eve turned to Quinn. “But don’t you get jealous of the fact that your ‘wife’ sleeps with another man while you’re out at work?”
“No.” He scooped in the last of his rice and rested his knife and fork on his plate. “If I did, the relationship wouldn’t work. The same goes for Liam when Ariane and I get together at night when he’s in his office.”
We were all quiet for a moment. I could almost hear the cogs turning in Eve’s head.
“I hope I’m not speaking completely out of line,” she said, leaning forward in her chair and looking straight at me. “But if you have two lovers, Ariane, wouldn’t it only be fair that your husbands could both take another woman to bed too?” I looked into her hazel eyes, they were wide and challenging. She knew exactly what she was doing and she knew full well she was speaking out of line. Gone was the hesitation, the wariness in her expression. Eve was a clever negotiator and she’d been sounding me out, looking for a weak point to chip away at. But it was nothing I couldn’t handle.
“Quinn and Liam both agreed when we committed ourselves to one another that I could and would sleep with both of them.”
“What, at the same time?” she asked quickly.
“Of course.” I enjoyed the flash of surprise in her eyes. “If we’re all together and in the mood, then yes, my husbands both make love to me at the same time. If I am alone with Liam or Quinn, then we make love alone, as couples.”
“It’s fun,” Liam said, slugging on a beer then wiping his top lip with his index finger. “Like, really good fun—all together, alone, it’s just great.” He grinned and I knew he was trying to keep the mood light. “’Cause Ariane is just so damn sexy.”
“I wouldn’t dispute that for a second,” Eve said, licking her pretty pink lips. “You are one of the most naturally beautiful women I’ve ever seen, Ariane.”
“Thank you.” I held her gaze, looking for signs of insincerity in her face. I couldn’t see any. She appeared genuine in her statement.
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“And do you keep this threesome marriage a big secret? I’m guessing not since you were dancing with both Quinn and Liam at Hanrahan’s,” she directed at me.
“No big secret,” Quinn said. “But we don’t shout about it either. We just are, and I’d like it to stay that way. My private life is exactly that, private.” He gave a little huff.
“I don’t think anyone at work would dare say anything to my face about me being in a polygamous relationship and if there are rumors I’ve never heard them.”
“No rumors,” Eve said. “Everyone knows you’re married with kids, but I hear most stuff when the nurses are taking their break and I’ve never heard anything about Liam mentioned.” She paused. “But how do the girls explain and cope with two fathers?”
“Families are made up of all sorts of different relationships these days,” Quinn said.
“People often assume one of us is a stepdad and we don’t bother to explain. The girls know they have two fathers who love them and provide for them and would lay down their lives for them. That’s all that matters.” Eve nodded and lifted her palms. “Well, it all seems utterly perfect. You’re very lucky to have found one another.”
“We are,” I said, topping up Eve’s red wine. “Very lucky indeed.” I glanced at Quinn. The meal was finished, everyone had placed their cutlery down. It was time.
“Going back to what you said earlier, Eve.” My mouth was suddenly dry, my tongue heavy. “About my husbands each taking another lover to make it fair.” Eve shifted her gaze to Quinn then back to me.
“It’s funny you mentioned that,” I said. “Because Quinn and I were talking about it earlier on today. This morning in fact.”
“Oh?” She tilted her chin as she gave me her undivided attention and knotted her fingers at her throat.
“Yes.” I reached for Quinn’s hand under the table. “And he said that if he were to take another woman to bed, it would be you.”
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My words hung over the table like a great heavy cloud above us, the calm before a storm. She studied me, then Quinn, and tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth.
“But I asked him last night and he said no,” she said. “He said no very firmly and very definitely.” She leaned back in the chair and dropped her hands to her lap.
“That was because
we
hadn’t discussed it,” I said. “We have now.” She creased her brow. “Are you giving us permission to have an affair, Ariane?”
“Hell, no,” I snapped. I suddenly wanted it out in the open. I didn’t want the words in my mouth any longer. “Once, you can fuck once, here, now. Then that’s it, over.” She laughed. “That’s one hell of a strange offer to get across a dinner table.”
“It’s a nonnegotiable offer.”
“What if I don’t want to sleep with him anymore?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine and holding out her little finger as though she were the Queen. “What if the moment has passed?”
“Oh, come on,” Liam said with a dry laugh. “You’ve hardly taken your eyes off him all evening. You want him, you want him naked. Even a blind man could see that.” Quinn and I turned to Liam, surprised by the antagonistic tone in his voice.
“What, it’s true,” Liam said with a shrug, running his finger around his left eye socket. “I’m only saying what I see.” He pushed up from the table and began to stack the empty plates.
When Liam left the room, Quinn let go of my hand and placed his on the scarlet tablecloth. My gaze locked on his graceful fingers and his thin silver commitment ring, at the dark hairs that led from his forearm to his wrist, caressing his bones and tendons and running onto the back of his hand.
“Eve,” he said. “I’m sorry if I was abrupt last night, but Ariane’s feelings were my priority.”
Eve reached out and touched the tip of her finger against his ring. “Of course,” she said quietly. “She’s your wife.”
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“Yes, but I did want you.” He swallowed and a small muscle in his cheek flexed.
“And I still want you. Very much.”
My heart became fluttery, my eyes struggled to focus. I forced myself to stay upright in the chair. I’d given my consent to this. I had to see it through.
“Well, I’m a single woman with needs,” she said, tilting her head so that her hair swished down her arm. “Needs that sometimes a vibrator just doesn’t fulfill.” She gave a little laugh then her face fell serious. “And in all honesty, Quinn, that was all I wanted last night, a shag. I’m not after a relationship or an affair. I’m too damn busy. I just wanted sex, some good sex, some good sex with someone I respect and who respects me.”
Quinn shifted in his seat and I noticed a flush of color on his cheekbones. He was getting hard. I could tell because he was fidgeting and his fingers were twitching.
“So go,” I said, standing and using the table to support my weak legs. “Go upstairs and have sex. That’s what you were invited here for, Eve. Not to make friends with me, not to eat, but for Quinn to have sex with you.” The side of her mouth tilted upward, and as her gaze slid over Quinn, a glint of triumph sparkled in their depths.