This chapter deals with developments while Arfon is keeping a low profile. His forced abscence results in Briony winning an uncontested divorce and the question of custody of the children never arises. Arfon dare not surface because there are warrents out for his arrest.

Briony... Betrayed wife and mother.
Sion... Her eight-year-old son.
Ellairy... Her nine-month--old daughter.
Arfon... Brionys’ abusive and unfaithful husband.
Dave Cadwalloder... Welsh bachelor hill-farmer.
Jenny and Lassie... Daves’ sheepdog bitches.
Laddie... Daves’ sheepdog.
Jessica and Pansy... Daves’ sows.
Angel... Daves’ mare.
Gabriella (Gabby)... Angels’ foal (Gift to Sion.)
Elsbeth... Briony’s sister.
Daphne... Daves’ ‘girlfriend’
Cledwyn... Farmer further down the valley (Neighbour.)
Blodwen... Cledwyn’s daughter.
Rachel... Daphne’s TV friend.
Shirley... Rachels’ GG wife.
Fajita... The maid.
James & Tara... Rachel’s teenaged children (16 & 15)
Billy and Janet... Manager and accountant at Daphne’s club.
Terry... New Zealand Shepherd.
Wendy Blodwens best friend at school. Also Dave’s friend.
Jane Policewoman at Machynlleth.
Jack Davies Sergeant North Wales Police.
Joyce Blodwen’s Partner.

The Ram 31.

“Daph’! Wake up! There’s somebody down stairs!”

Briony was sat bolt upright while Sion stirred reluctantly and Daphne propped herself up on one elbow.

“It’s morning girl, of course there’s somebody down stairs!”

“Who!” Briony demanded.

“Blodwen.” That’s who.

“How can you tell?”

“Can you hear any other noise?” Daphne sighed.

“No.”

“Exactly, now go back to sleep.”

“I can’t sleep now, it’s morning.”

“Well get up then but I want to catch up on some shut-eye.”

“It might be someone else!”

“If it was somebody else Bri, the dogs would be going ballistic.”

“Oh.” For the first moment since hearing noises Briony relaxed. “So why is Blodwen here?”

“I don’t know, go down and ask her.”

Briony scrambled awkwardly over Sion who clung like a limpet to his corner of the duvet. As she stood by the bed there was a knock on the door.

“Whoisit?”

“Who j’uh think?”

Briony immediately recognised the voice confirming it to be Blodwen.

“Oh it IS you. Come in.”

The door creaked open and Blodwen wheeled in a dumb waiter with breakfast already prepared. Briony’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Oooh! That's nice. But what’choo doing up here so early?”

“Early? It’s ten o’clock girl! I was going to ask why you are still in bed so late but the answer’s obvious now. Have you been ... you know?”

Briony put her finger to her lips and frowned as she pulled back the duvet to reveal Sion curled up into a ball.

“Oh! Okay then. I’ll catch you later. It’s just that Sergeant Davies phoned; he’s coming up with the Superintendant from Division in Aberystwyth. More questions apparently. I’ll be down stairs, Ifan is loading the mangles. You and I have got to have a long chat girl.”

“What about?” Briony demanded nervously.

“Later, I’ll explain.” Blodwen finished as she turned to leave.

When she’d left Briony pumped Daphne for answers.

“What was all that about?”

“I think her seeing you with me has started her clock ticking. She spoke to me about it when she came to visit me in hospital. Basically, she wants her babies to be contemporary with ours.

“Babies! How many is she planning on having?”

“One of her own and one by Joyce, her partner.”

“Both by you?”

“Apparently, then their children will be half siblings to ours. One big happy family is how Blod sees it. How do you feel about it?”

Briony sat down again on the bed then instructed Sion to get up and finish his breakfast in the other bedroom. Sion tried to object but he received short thrift and Briony almost ejected him out of the bed. He grumbled out of the bedroom and Briony immediately tackled Daphne.

“Have you planned all this with Blod?”

“No. It’s Blodwen’s idyll. She’s moving back to the farm anyway, her practice enables her to do it. Three days midweek in Birmingham and four day weekends at Fferm Graig Las Isaf. Monday nights down here. Travel up to Brum Tuesday mornings and back Thursday whenever, depending on work. Joyce to work something similar but go up Monday morning and back Wednesday afternoons. It could easily work Bri; our kids can shuffle back and forth between Fferm Isaf and Plas Las. Blodwen and I did it for years when we were at school together. Cledwyn and my dad never knew where we were staying every night. Her place or mine. When her mum died, she lived here with my Nan for over a year. Honestly it works and it worked because kids are safe up here."

Briony sat thoughtfully tracing a line on the pillow.

“Will you have sex with them or is it turkey baster stuff?”

“What do you want? If you don’t want me actually ... you know, just say so.”

Briony looked at Daphne a little guiltily.

“Well; it’s just that Blodwen’s pretty and Joyce is a looker as well.”

“Do I detect the little green-eyed monster?”

Briony felt rotten admitting it.

“A bit, yes.”

Well okay then, turkey baster it is. Blod and Joyce have talked about this and they’re okay with turkeys. But what happens if the artificial method doesn’t work, assuming I’m still fertile of course.”

“As a last resort you mean?”

“As a last resort.”

“I suppose you’ll have to go ‘au-natural’ or they’ll have to go to a clinic.”

“We can cross that bridge if we ever come to it.”

“Is that a way forward then? Turkey basters at dawn.”

Briony slapped his arm and grinned self-consciously.

“Oh stoppit you. Come on, get dressed!”

Ten minutes later Blodwen and Briony looked out of the kitchen window and saw Dave driving the tractor with Sion and Ifan throwing the mangles from the trailer. Blodwen smiled to herself for now she had Briony all to herself in the Kitchen. Now was the time to dig the dirt.

“So Bri, go on. What’s he like? Is it big like some sort of macho man or is it teeny weenie?”

Briony smirked. She had the whip hand because only she knew.

“I can’t say, I haven’t had that much experience.”

“Oh stop fooling around Bri! Is he able to get it up ... correction; can she get it up?”

“Oh I can answer that,” Briony smirked and paused.

Blodwen punched her arm affectionately.

“Stop winding me up. Can she?”

Briony nodded and continued smirking.

“Oh she can certainly get it up, well for now anyway but if she continues with the hormones, well; who can tell.”

Blodwen swore partly from frustration, partly with amusement.

“Right, if you’re trying for a baby then I think it’s only fair that Joyce and I do. You said last week that you had no objections.”

Briony burst out laughing.

“I know. You know that and Joyce knows that but Daphne doesn’t. She thinks I want you to do it Turkey Baster style with her.”

“Like hell. I may be gay but I still like a cuddle when stuff like this goes off. Daphne’s my best friend so I want her child and I want her inside me making it. Besides, it’s the most practical and efficient method. What’s more, sleeping with Daphne is virtually like sleeping with a girl. You said you had no objections.”

“I don’t,” Briony confirmed, “but she thinks I do. I’m not going to have her sleeping with all and sundry AND enjoying it. There needs to be a bit of guilt there, she can’t just have her cake and eat it. She’s still a man, well; she doing the man’s part, the pleasurable part. She doesn’t have to carry any children or worse bear them. If she’s going to have a pop at three girls then she can bloody well carry the guilt if she can’t carry the child.”

Blodwen let out a snort of conspiratorial amusement.

“Why you cruel bitch Briony Cadwalloder. She may be a man but she still aches to be able to carry a child. Never happen of course.”

Briony fell silent for a moment’s reflection ‘It was true, poor Daphne ached to have a child but it would never ever be.’ Her light-hearted mood evaporated but she stuck to her convictions.

‘It was men who had all the fun even if they had little or no fulfilment.'

She turned to put the kettle on and realised there were no pressure feelings in her boobs. ‘Her milk was drying up. She would be able to conceive soon.” As she tested her boobs she explained to Blodwen.

“I’m not lactating any more. If you and Joyce want your babies contemporary with mine, you’d better start making plans. I’ll ask Dave to get his sperm tested.”

Blodwen blushed then smiled gratefully.

“Thanks Briony, you’re a brick.” When Joyce and I come down from Birmingham, shall we stay here until the deeds are done? I can’t see my dad approving of Daphne coming calling on us like some Romeo and Juliette scenario.”

Briony nodded and grinned.

“Yeah I think so though she won’t know what’s hit her! She’ll feel like some bloody Eastern potentate in his harem!”

“I don’t think so Bri’, Daphne’s a girl at heart, that’s the impression I get.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s the truth and all. And a sweet girl as well.”

With the deal struck behind Daphne’s back the girls moved things forward over the next few months. Arfon seemed to have dropped below the radar and the spectre of his reappearence receded into the background as their efforts to conceive took precedence.
In the February, Terry arrived to work with the sheep and Daphne organised a flat for him at the other end of the house. Terry lived with them for meals and evenings but had his own set of rooms to retreat to when his boyfriend came over at weekends. The sperm tests demonstrated that Daphne was below the normal fertility count but her sperm motility was vigorous and acceptable. The specialist assured her and Briony that Daph’ was by no means sterile and Briony should conceive by normal natural intercourse. He also advised Daphne to forgo her hormones until Briony had fallen pregnant. This naturally translated to Blodwen and Joyce but it was fully a month before the three real girls confessed to Daphne about the deal they had struck about ‘Natural intercourse’. Daphne called them provocative bitches when she shed the burden of guilt that Briony had loaded onto her. An inadvertent consequence was that Daphne began to function better when the stress of guilt was removed and unbeknownst to any of them, as Daphne’s stress reduced, her sperm count increased. In May Joyce found herself pregnant to Daphne and Blodwen fell pregnant in August. Briony had to wait until October before she too became pregnant but the bonus was that Briony conceived twins.

Blodwen’s dream had come to fruition. When Christmas arrived that following year, the girls organised a surprise party for their parents to break the news. Briony’s uncontested ‘divorce absolute’ was also declared in December and Briony was finally free to solemnise her union with Daphne.

They arranged for the Christmas party to be held at Plas Graig Las. Daphne felt a little ‘out of place’ being the only girl there without a parent. Fortunately, the preparation and organisation took up so much effort; she didn’t have time to dwell upon her ‘genetic loneliness’. Being the only person there with no ‘blood relations’, brought home to Daphne the gravity and importance to her of the precious packages gestating in Briony’s womb. Briony caught her a couple of days before Christmas lying pensively on the bed and weeping with happiness as she contemplated Briony’s wonderful gift to her.

“What’s wrong with you then sweetheart?” Briony asked.

Daphne turned and looked up without bothering to wipe her eyes.

“I’m just thinking love. For the first time since I was nineteen, I’ll be able to look at another human being and say, you are my blood, you are my relation.”

“Does it mean that much to you?” Briony wondered.

Daphne nodded and sat up as she explained.

“Have you ever been all alone Bri? I mean totally alone, wholly dependent on your own wits, your own skills, your own resources and absolutely nothing else?”

Briony considered the question and wagged her head as she reflected silently.

‘Having two sisters and three brothers not to mention countless cousins had ensured Briony had never been alone ... there had always been somebody to turn to — at least until she had married in haste. Even when married to Arfon she had not felt alone; just threatened and frightened.’

Daphne stared at the floor as she continued explaining to Briony.

“Once Dad died, that was it. I was the only child of an only child. I have no first cousins you know, nor any second cousins that I know of. Both my parents were single children and my grand-parents were as well. My Nan explained that to me before she died. I was eleven. There was a rumour that my mother’s mother had an illegitimate older sister but it was never ever confirmed to me and no information was ever forthcoming from my Nan. So you understand; I’ve stood alone for over a decade, me and me alone. I’ve never really thought about it until this party, it’s brought it home to me. I’ll be the only one there without a single blood relative.”

Briony patted her tummy and smiled as she explained softly then placed Daphne’s hand on the bump.

“Well you have now. Two of them, in there, just give them some more time to grow. They’ll be as close to you as blood can get. I suggest you sit back and enjoy the ride lover-boy ...lover-girl ... lover-daddy. Cos’ when they arrive, you’ll know all about relatives.”

Daphne smiled, sniffed and started to dry her tears which then required makeup repairs so she sat to the dressing table and used the repair session as ‘therapy’. Briony watched her and they exchanged make-up ideas until Sion found them.

“They’re all asking for you down stairs. Tara’s finished the tree and she thinks you should formally switch the Christmas tree lights on. You’re the ‘head of the household’ or something.

“Has everybody arrived?” Briony asked.

Sion replied.

“Everybody except Aunty Elspeth and my cousins; they said they would be late.”

Briony turned to Daphne and tugged her off the make-up seat.

“Come on you, it’s rude for the main hostess to ignore her guests.”

Daphne suddenly felt a bizarre flutter of nerves tingle through her chest. She had never confronted so many people in her own house. Briony had to almost drag her downstairs and push her into her own drawing room. Daphne almost flew through the door and stumbled to a halt in the middle of a circle of some twenty people. She stuttered through a brief welcome speech that she had pre-prepared but even so she ‘fluffed’ her lines. Finally she got through it and turned to Tara who was now sixteen.

“I think you had better switch on the lights love. You’ve done most of the work decorating the tree.”

Tara knew this was true. That morning, Terry the shepherd had gone with James to cut a tree from Daphne’s plantation then Tara had ‘supervised’ it’s erection before decorating it. It had taken her the whole afternoon and early evening. Now, as the winter night closed in, Briony took Ellairy in her arms then nodded to Tara, whose finger was itching to go. She pressed the switch and the tree flashed into life. Icicles started to ‘drip’ off the branches and Ellairy squealed with delight.

Christmas at Plas Las had started. Briony reached out to take Daphne’s hand and squeezed it joyously. They exchange tearful glances as they recognised the joy of seeing the house so full after decades of virtual emptiness. Blodwen spotted the interchange and she stepped across the room to join them to pull them together in a collective hug as she whispered.

“Happy Christmas Daph, and may there be many more of them. Plas Las needs this.”