After their discussion, they agreed that Candy would go shopping on her own and a trip with Andy would follow. That order of things was Andy’s idea, for which he cited two reasons. The first being that Candy had so enjoyed meeting the lactation nurse, her first chance to act on her own after weeks of depending on others, and the second being that Andy needed to get used to her being out on her own. He needed to re-learn enjoying her independence. Candy for her part accepted the need to keep in touch.

That was all very logical, but it left Andy wondering what to do. He had reduced his work while Candy was ill, he’d handed projects over to others and knew it was best to let them run with what they’d been given. He was in no hurry to pick up new work and the business was running well enough without his hands on everything. The only problem was what to do for the week that Marsha was working nights and sleeping much of the day.

With Candy out shopping and Marsha asleep at the hospital all day but planning to resume their baby-making that night, he cooked; something he had always enjoyed. He spent half an hour on Google searching aphrodisiac foods. A subject that had some fascination, given their circumstances. The scientist in him had to fight down a tendency to think it was more than likely total rubbish. There were practical issues too; what menu would have Watermelon, Chilli, Chocolate, Strawberries, Figs, Oysters,  and Asparagus?

Andy crossed off Oysters and Asparagus as being too hard to source at short notice. That left some possibilities, but no main course.

He settled for Watermelon to start, and a chicken salad with green leaves and avocado with an olive oil dressing to follow. After that Strawberries with a chilli chocolate sauce ought to do the trick.

Should he cook for the three of them or do something different for Candy? Would that make a point? It might... there was only one way to find out.

Doing that to Candy felt mean, so he made three portions of the special meal, but when he was ready and there was no sign of the girls he dashed out and bought a so-called traditional English fish and chip ready meal. Marsha came home first, Candy was still in town shopping, no doubt for another surprise.

“Did you have a good shift and a good sleep?” he said to Marsha.

“Like all the others, nothing exciting, no sluts covered in blood and cum. Actually, where is the slut?”

“She’s gone shopping. It may be my fault, I told her I was fed up with the bag lady look.”

Marsha laughed. “It was not that bad.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’ve been waiting a month for her to be home and now I can only see her covered up.”

“It’ll be worth it Andy. Can we eat? I’m starving.”

“I was hoping to hang on until she got here.”

“More games?”

“A little.”

“I’ll call her and tell her to hurry up. I’ll get a shower while she’s on her way,”

“Take your time, the food won’t spoil.”

Marsha appeared ten minutes later wearing a simple shift in a delicate almost transparent fabric. Around her neck, she wore an upmarket version of the collar that Andy had seen before. This one was made from a finely woven silver thread.

Barefoot and bare legs with a hemline that was short enough to make it seem that her legs must go on forever; or maybe they ended where her nipples teased the fabric.

“Beautiful,” Andy said, and pulled her towards him. Marsha laughed, broke free from his embrace and stepped away quickly standing on a chair. The reason was immediately visible. She eased her feet as wide apart as she dared without falling off the seat. Andy stepped forward to kiss the pussy that was tantalisingly visible in front of him.

“Not too much lover, don’t make me go weak at the knees.”

His tongue slid into her, penetrating low down and teasing her lips apart as far up as he could go.

“Oh that’s good,” she said. “Once more please and then put these in.”

Her left hand found his right, closing around his palm and leaving the Ben-Wa balls behind.

“She’ll be here in two minutes,” she said, “so don’t waste time.”

Andy obliged, carefully inserting the balls before Marsha stepped off the chair and kissed him again.

“I thought I’d better up my game,” she said. “If you’re missing Candy then I need to satisfy you; until she’s ready I’ll go the extra mile.”

Andy retreated to the kitchen and brought the starter for the two of them.

“What about Candy?”

“I have a surprise for her.”

A minute later Candy came home, peeled off her coat in the hallway and appeared in her new look. Andy and Marsha stood stunned as Candy pirouetted in front of them. She was wearing thigh-high leather boots with very minimal black shorts and a matching leather corset.

“Is that better than the bag lady?”

“About a million times... Do you like it?”

“Yes. I like it a lot. I wish I’d got something like this before, I think the guys would have been queueing up.”

“Is that what you want? A queue?”

“I don’t want to talk about that now. What’s for supper?”

“Take your seat ma’am and I’ll get it right away.”

Candy sat down and a moment later Andy was back with a tray on which there were two chicken salads and one portion of fish and chips. That was the one he placed in front of Candy.

“What’s this?”

“Fish and chips, cooked to perfection I hope.”

“So why have you two got chicken?”

“For the last few days I’ve been wearing this cage, so I’m saved up for M, and you’ve been making sure I was frustrated by covering up all the time. M’s been working, so I figured we needed something to get us going. This menu consists almost entirely of foods that are alleged to be aphrodisiacs. That’s for M and me so we can do the business. I figured it was best not to give that to you because you’re off sex for now and I wouldn’t want you to get too worked up.”

Candy looked at Andy, trying to read something, anything in his face. After a few seconds, she switched her attention to Marsha.

“Is this a wind-up?”

“Nothing to do with me. It is a cool idea though, you can’t fault the logic.”

“Oh fuck,” Candy said. “I can’t get this right.”

“Do you feel hurt love?” Andy’s voice was all sympathy and care.

“Yes, well, no, yes, sort of. I dressed up to turn you on so you’d be all hot for Marsha.”

“Would you feel hotter, I mean would it work better if you had the aphrodisiac meal too?”

Andy watched Candy’s face as she looked sad and frustrated and somehow resigned at the same time.

“I’ll get the other meal,” he said.

“No, no, I understand. You need to be turned on. I’ll eat this.”

Andy got up and headed for the kitchen speaking over his shoulder as he moved.

“There is a third portion.”

He was soon back with a starter and main course for Candy. She fell back into her seat, laughing and crying at the same time.

“Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t resist. I’ve played my trick, you can choose.”

Candy sat looking at the two meals.

“Can I have the starter, then the fish and chips, and then whatever you two are having for dessert? Is that allowed?” She looked at Andy. “Does this aphrodisiac business work? I mean has anyone done proper research?”

“Pass, I looked at lists on the web, not the evidence.”

Marsha raised her hand. “There must be a massive placebo effect. I mean you lay on this special menu with a nice wine, and it’s not too filling, so no one feels bloated.  I guarantee anyone who serves this can be sure of a massive placebo effect.”

“Maybe I’ll stick to the fish,” Candy reached out to take Marsha’s hand. “I hope it works,” she said. “Is this a good time?”

“Pretty much dead on.”

“So no pressure then,” said Andy.

They ate slowly, savouring the food, each inevitably delving into their imagination as they enjoyed the unusual supper.

As they finished Candy put her arm around Andy. “Even if that lovely meal doesn’t work, I have to say honey that your chances of getting M pregnant are a whole heap better than doing it with me. Just relax into it.”

“Don’t relax too much,” Marsha laughed. “Will you do the honours Candy?”

“You want me to?”

“It’s your cock, isn’t it? Andy’s too, but you know what I mean. You’re the one with the marriage certificate. I know we’re doing this together, so please unlock Andy for me.”

“Andy,” Candy said, “you’d better undress.” She spun around, “not you M, not yet.”

“I think the bedroom is the place for that,” Andy said as he turned and headed that way. The two women glanced at each other.

“What have you done to him,” Candy whispered.

“It’s not me girl, it’s you; you made him think.”

“Is that good?”

“I think it will be. What I don’t know is whether his plans and your plans fit together.”

“I don’t have any plans,” Candy whispered

“What about all this dressing up?”

“It’s the piercings, they take weeks to heal, I want them to look perfect before he sees them.”

“Okay kid, let’s get me pregnant before the big reveal.”

“He’s in there waiting.”

“Go get him ready.”

“Give me a minute or two, I’ll call you,” Candy said as she set off. Andy was lying naked on the giant bed. She stood by the bed gazing at him.

“Hi,” Andy said. “Do you come here often?”

“I’m planning to.”

“Are you going to unlock me?”

“In a minute.” She sat on the side of the bed. “I’m sorry I’m messing you about. Are you sure you’re okay with this baby business?”

“Are you?” Andy reached out for her hand. “It’s easy for me, I’m good for child support and I always wanted kids as much as you did. It’s you that’s piggy in the middle.”

“How do you mean?”

“Marsha will be pregnant, but she’ll still be working. You quit your job while you were in the hospital, quite right too, but you’ll be at home, taking hormones, breast pumping, getting your head around being a mum. M and I won’t see a lot of change in our lives, but you will.” Andy paused for a second. “I wondered if the dressing down thing was part of that, like you hiding, wondering who you were?”

“Marsha said you’d been thinking a lot.”

“Yeah, too much probably.”

“I want to do everything, I know that sounds typical Candy, biting off more than she can chew, but that’s me isn’t it.”

Candy flipped the necklace over her head so she could use the key.

“Shouldn’t Marsha be doing the unlocking? She’s the one who has to be turned on”

“She’s as confused as us about who should do what. She asked me, so I’m doing it. No more questions, go with it.”

Once the lock was undone and the cage was eased off. Candy lay alongside Andy in a sixty-nine position and slowly took his cock into her mouth.

“I want everything,” she said. “Pumping my tits every day will be fun, but it will make me horny. What to do about that will be up to you. I bet there are plenty of guys who like sucking tits, you could rent mine out and make money. You could put me on a milking machine and have me on a webcam. You can do whatever you dream up.”

“And the baggy clothes?”

“My plan" — suck — "was to cover up" —  suck — "until I was ready" — suck. "I wasn’t very imaginative." — "This is better.”

As she spoke Andy’s cock grew.

“Ready,” she shouted and Marsha appeared. “Allow me,” said Candy, standing behind Marsha and pulling her silk dress over her head.

“This beautiful lady is here for... um, I was going to say for one purpose only, but that wouldn’t be right. She’s here to get pregnant, but here to entertain you and have fun as well... and, um, I think to stand in for your idiot wife who nearly got herself killed.”

By the time she’d finished, she was crying. Marsha turned and pulled her close, kissed her, and then whispered in her ear.

“Which is worse for you love, watching or not watching?”

“I don’t know.”

“How are you going to decide?”

Candy turned to Andy. “Can you decide?”

“I think it would be best if you could tell us what to do. I think if we were to add up who has had the most partners Candy would have the top score, don’t you think M? If we’re going to get this right we should consult the expert.”

“Andy,” Marsha said, “if I didn’t know you, I might think that was— "

“A bit sharp? Sorry, it came out without thinking. I’m, um, struggling. I feel weird having sex with someone else in front of Candy, but at the same time, I want her to be here.”

Candy looked at Andy and then at Marsha and then laughed.

“You two had better get on with this or I’ll have to get Andy hard again.”

Andy rolled over to look at Marsha, “How about you, how is this working for you?”

“Kiss me and I’ll tell you.”

Andy pulled her onto the bed and rolled over alongside so that once he pushed himself onto his elbows, he could gradually tease her lips and slowly kiss deeper and deeper. As his tongue found its way between her lips, there was a sudden intake of breath. Andy rocked back to see what had happened but Marsha pulled him back and kissed even harder.

Andy was unable to escape as he felt Candy pushing him sideways. He ran his hand down to try to make contact, only to find that Candy’s head was between Marsha’s legs.

Andy relaxed and concentrated on kissing, happy that Candy had decided to join in and get Marsha ready. He could feel her arousal rising as Candy got more involved by taking his cock in her hand and making sure he was hard and ready. Andy risked using one hand to tease one nipple and then the other. Both were rock hard when Candy rolled away and started to drag Andy’s cock to where it needed to be. Candy stood away from the bed, one hand pressing on Andy’s buttocks.

“Fuck her good,” she said.

Andy took enough weight on his elbows to be able to see her face and slowed his pace to fit the rhythms he could see in front of him.  

“Harder.”

The demand did something to Andy’s pride, pushed him, so that this became something new, something that went past worrying about Candy, something that took him outside the complexities of this new life. In front of him, underneath him was a woman who was giving herself not just to him but to him and Candy and their new poly life.

Looking at Marsha’s face, seeing her passionate concentration he felt a surge of emotion, suddenly knowing that between them they were doing something profound. This wasn’t fucking any longer, it was breeding, making a new life, and he knew that nothing would be the same again.

They both came together, a surging tsunami of physical climax and emotional fulfilment. He’d felt it before, back when Candy was desperate for a baby, before the ectopic, before the horrors and Candy’s transformation. It would be so simple to love Marsha, let Candy go, but he could not do that. Thinking the thought made him jump. He had to get Candy back.

“We need her,” he said, kissing Marsha. “We mustn’t leave her out.”

“I know.”

“I love you M,” he said.

“Candy,” she called, “Candy come back lover, we need you.”

Candy appeared alongside the bed, her face close to both of theirs.

“Can you get him off me and make sure nothing leaks.”

Candy laughed.  “Easier said than done. You stay put,” she said. “Cuddle her Andy, keep the hormones flowing, give her love, it makes a better baby.”

Candy pulled a duvet over them and tucked it around them.

Andy reached out a hand and caught Candy’s arm. “Thanks. Are you okay love?”

“Mmmm, talk tomorrow. Sleep with M tonight. I’ll see you for breakfast.”

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Marsha insisted on more sex in the morning, wanting to take full advantage of her most fertile days. Andy made it to breakfast at ten and found Candy waiting. As he sat down, she picked up a tray.

“This is for Marsha,” she said. “Yours is in the oven, have some coffee and wait for me.”

Andy poured some coffee and sat down. Was this a new Candy, or was it an act? Could she keep this up for the next five days? He put the cup down and was holding his head in his hands, elbows on the table when Candy came back.

“Are you okay love?” Candy said.

“Puzzled,” he said. “I get where we’re going. Marsha’s plan is a great idea, an amazing gift really. In a year’s time, I’m sure we’ll all be fine. It’s getting through the days I’m finding weird. All the time you were in hospital I focussed on how to give you what you needed. Now it feels like we’re off that page and I don’t know who or what I’m trying to be.”

Candy sat silent for half a minute, elbows on the table, mirroring Andy’s pose.

“Yeah, me too,” she said.

“You too?”

“I think I should start using my real name.”

“Candice?”

“Yeah. Mrs Candice Andrews. If I’m going to be a mum, like Marsha says, then I ought to be Candice.”

“Go on, tell me more.”

“What do you want to know Mr Andrew Keith Andrews?”

Andy removed his hands from his head and sat more upright.

“I wish my parents had given me different initials; a.k.a,  always makes it seem as if I’m some nefarious character with multiple identities.”

He grinned across the table at her, half-hinting that it might be true.

“Maybe you are.”

“I’d like to get to know Candice, you know, the usual stuff, take her on a date.”

“You mean like dinner and a movie.”

“Yeah, of course, I’d have to find out what she likes, I’d hate for our first date to go wrong.”

“I don’t think it would,” Candice said, looking down and doing a passable imitation of what the romance magazines call fluttering her eyelashes.

“She barely knows herself.”

“I think,” Andy said, “I’d like to take her shopping. I just bet she needs a whole new wardrobe — I’m guessing she won’t want to hang around in Candy’s cast-offs.”

They sat looking at each other across the table, neither saying anything, both smiling, wondering who would make the next move.

“Would Candice like smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with a little champagne?”

Candy laughed. “You don’t have smoked salmon.”

“Actually I do. You haven’t checked the freezer since you came home.”

“With Melba toast?”

“Of course. If ma’am would care to wait in the dining room, I will see to it immediately.”

Candy, or maybe Candice, walked out of the kitchen but stopped at the door.

“You didn’t ask the obvious question.”

“No.”

“Will Candy be back?”

“Will she?”

“I think so, I expect I’ll miss her. Will you?”

“I guess that’s another thing we’ll find out. How will I tell one from the other?”

“I think it will be obvious, but do you want to be told?”

“Maybe Candy should always wear her collar?"

Candy grinned. “Yes, that works both ways, you’ll know it’s Candy and so will she. Now, what about your breakfast? I put it in the oven to keep warm, go get it or it will spoil.”

A few minutes later Andy emerged from the kitchen with two trays to find the table set and Candy sitting waiting for him. Andy sat, ground some pepper onto his egg, and waited.

“I suppose you’re wondering what brought this on?”

“A little.”

“Would you prefer if it was a secret?”

“If it has to be that way,”

“But you’d rather not... I know you’ve been thinking a lot while I’ve been away, and that’s great. I guess I have too, only most of it has been subconscious, until Marsha sprang her surprise. That triggered something and then a lot fell into place.”

She loaded another fork with salmon.

“This is delicious.”

“Good.”

“It made me think about what sort of mother I wanted to be. It took me back to when I was hoping to be one...”

She ate another mouth full, and then another.

“You worked it out, didn’t you? The ectopic and everything. It changed me, that’s where Candy came from.”

“And Candice?”

“I would have been Candice by now, I think, except Candy took over. Candy had something to prove.”

“Has she proved it?”

Candy took another fork or egg and then some salmon, gradually clearing her plate. She drank half the glass of champagne. Andy waited.

“You ask the most difficult questions.”

“Most of the time I don’t ask them.”

Candy nodded. “I think I guessed that. I spent a lot of time in the hospital thinking about what I put you through.”

“What Candy put me though.”

“Yeah. That’s a good point. What Candy put both of us through. She stopped Candice from growing and who knows what she did to you.”

“I survived.”

“You did,” she smiled. “Miraculous really. Anyway, that’s not the point, is it? What Candy proved is that men like her if she gives herself away. Not much of a discovery, I mean there must be thousands of women who find that out without almost killing themselves.” She laughed, shook her head and for a moment adopted the head in hands pose that Andy had a few minutes earlier.

“Marsha’s mistress said something that hit home. I haven’t talked about that night, have I... She said I was unfair competition for her business. She was probably just making a point, or joking even, but I’d never thought about that before. I was, well Candy was giving something away that belonged to you.”

Another long silence followed.

“You know the worst thing about what Candy found out?”

“No.”

“She found you always forgave her.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“In a way.”

“Candy was punished.”

“Yeah, that could have been a good thing, except she set that up and enjoyed it too. You went along with it but you didn’t invent it or insist on it.”

“Okay, so I was a wimp.” Andy said, shrugging his shoulders.

“But deep down, Andy, you are not a wimp. Not at all. You were trying to help me, trying to be reasonable and kind.”

“And scared of losing you.”

“Mmmm,” she nodded. “That too. I was awful to you. Lots of guys would have kicked me out. I wonder what it would have taken for you to have done that...”

She reached out and took his hands in hers. “Worse than that; I was lucky I didn’t get sucked into some mob who wanted to make money from me. I was stupid. I know Sue was there, and we went to different places... which was your very sensible idea... but it would have been easy to see us coming and control who got near us. I wouldn't be surprised if those clubs have a kind of network and I bet they swap security pictures.”

“You think this hypothetical mob could sell access to you?”

“Yeah, and who knows where that might have ended.”

“So?”

“You might never have gotten me back — what if they followed me home, what if they threatened you? You might have cut your losses.”

“I would have figured some way to get you back.”

She smiled, picked up his hands and kissed them.

“I’m getting off the point. When I got my piercings done, I wanted them to look perfect. I’ve come home stretched and splattered so many times, and sometimes too tired to be good to you, and made you spank me.”

She looked up.

“Don’t look like that love, it’s true. When I talked to the people at the salon about exactly what I wanted and how long it took to heal, I almost scared myself off the idea. I couldn’t stand the thought of you seeing bits of me looking battered and bruised, or having to put up with all the tedious business of looking after these things while they heal.” She squeezed his hands again. “I knew if I asked you, you’d say straight away that you’d help, but that’s not the point, I wanted to look perfect for you. So I covered up. I thought that was clever, you know, build up suspense and all that.”

She stopped talking for a second and gave Andy a sheepish grin.

“Then Marsha came out with her baby thing and everything was upside down. I loved it, it was brilliant, but it left me in limbo, covered up for a month or two while you knock up Marsha. I want that baby, but it left me in mid air. Me being covered up won’t make much suspense with all that going on. Last night I made myself think long term; not just about the next few months. We’re making a baby, that’s not a quick fix.”

“And out of that came Candice?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“So Candy is the slut alter ego and Candice is? Is what?”

“That’s what we have to find out. I know I’m being ridiculous. Marsha fell for Candy, she may hate Candice. You at least fell for the original, can you still remember her?”

“Of course I can,” Andy said. “ I'll find my way back to there. I was getting used to living with two women and now there will be three— "

“Only two at once.”

“Yeah, but I need to do some research on how to handle a harem. What do they do? I wonder. Do they have a rota, or toss a coin every morning?”

“Poor you, spoiled for choice.” She laughed. “But it doesn’t feel like that, does it? I’m sorry love. we’re messing with your head.”

Andy said nothing, lost in thought for a moment.

“Should I go away for a while?” she said.

“What?” Andy snapped back to reality.

“So you can get it on with Marsha.”

“No... um, well... sorry, I mean, if you want to. What would you do? Where would you go?”

“I don’t know. I thought you might have better sex with Marsha if I wasn’t around to cramp your style.”

Andy sat looking at her, his face, his whole body, transmitting a message that could have been a banner across his chest saying, ‘I’m thinking.’

“If,” he said, eventually, “if you wanted to go away, then you should, but I would rather you stayed here. I could go away, I could stay at a hotel near work and meet Marsha in secret assignations. If we worked at it, we might even get excited by role playing having an affair. If we made a few deliberate mistakes, you might catch us at it. We might work up some adrenaline between us.”

He chuckled, imagining for a second some clandestine assignation. “Or,” he said, “we could be grown up about it all. Just because it seems a little weird right now, there’s no reason to panic.”

He watched her face, curious how she’d take what he was saying. Candy stayed silent so Andy took a deep breath and carried on.

“I think you have the right idea. We need new words, new names, to talk about the new us, and I mean all three of us. I could dream up a hundred ways of doing this — you could blindfold me when you shower, or lock me out of the bathroom, or make me sleep in my office, but wouldn’t it be better to decide that this is something we’re doing together. I can respect your hidden surprise, help you keep it a secret from me. You can help me fertilise Marsha and we can find new ways to love each other and the pair of us to love Marsha. We can laugh at our mistakes, our fumbling, our embarrassment and discomfort and make memories out of what’ve learned... would that be okay with you?”

“How does it work if you can’t love Marsha while I’m there?”

“I’m sure I can learn, but I’d rather do that with you helping. We got off on the wrong foot with you saying having to watch Marsha and me was a punishment. Maybe it could have been, but not to make a baby. If you want that baby, then we have to do it together.”

“I thought I deserved the punishment.”

“Oh, sure,” he said. “but not that one. I don't want to produce an angry baby. I can think up plenty of other punishments.”

“Promise?”

Andy laughed. “Oh yeah, definitely. Meanwhile, I want to see more of Candice.”

“What do you think she’ll look like?”

“When I finally get to meet her?”

“Mmmm. Imagine you were meeting on a blind date, what do you think she’d be wearing?”

“On a blind date I’d expect a surprise, but I think she’d be chic and expensive; after all she has a husband who is quiet well off. I think for a blind date she’d dress up a little. Not actual Paris couture, because she wouldn’t want to intimidate a date, but definitely something cool and chic. Absolutely.”

“She might be a selfish whore.”

“I’ll take my chances.

“Would you book a restaurant, she’d expect the man to do that don't you think?”

“Definitely.”

“Do you have anywhere in mind?”

“The Grand, I think. The hotel has a great restaurant.”

“Would you book a room for that?”

“I’ll book a suite, you know, with connecting rooms — she might not want to go all the way on a first date.”

“You never know.”

“I won’t press her. I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot.”

“Be careful, you wouldn’t want her to think you weren’t interested.”

“No,” he said, “that would never do. Enough of this idle chat. I’ve got work to do.”

“Wait a sec, this date, how will she know when it is?”

“I was hoping Candice would give me her number, or an email. My guess is that she’ll have a second phone; one she can keep secret from her husband.”

“Is that what respectable women do these days?”

“That’s what I’ve heard.”

“How do they keep track of which phone to use?”

Andy laughed, a subtle, knowing, chuckle. “As far as I can tell, that’s the tricky part. A man who is working has an excuse. If the spare phone is found — he can say it’s for work, and I guess a working woman has the same excuse; for the rest, I don’t know. This blind date woman probably has a small elegant handbag, not one of those hold everything busy mums jobs.  Maybe she keeps a separate bag for dates.”

“I think you might be right.” Candy said. “I imagine this woman would be organised, not like that promiscuous slut Marsha was looking after recently, who couldn’t even hang onto a key she had that unlocked something precious.”

Andy blew her a kiss from the door. Twenty minutes later he heard a taxi arrive and later, when he stopped to make coffee, there was a note on the kitchen table saying, ‘Gone shopping.’