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Child Brides of India
By: C. Stanton Leman
Chapter 98: Hauntings
Things came to a head with Tina about a month after
Leeya's ultrasound. It happened one night after we'd
put the twins and Malina to bed and we were sitting in
the family room watching some nature show on
Discovery: of all things, the mating habits of the
South American spider monkey, genus Ateles Geoffroyi.
The girls thought it apropos and cute because we'd
been practicing some mating habits of our own. Anyway,
Tina came down from upstairs, settled on my lap and
asked, "Whatcha watching?"
This really wasn't strange because she parks herself
on my lap a few times a month. "Spider monkeys," I
replied as I watched the show.
With her head on my shoulder we watched together and
she asked as we viewed the screen, "Are they doin' it?
"Yup," I answered with a chuckle, "Looks
like it to me."
"I love you Daddy," Tina cooed as she nuzzled
my neck.
"I love you too Sweetie," I cooed in return as
I
rubbed her back, eyes fixed on the screen.
As we watched the screen, it appeared that an adult
male had fancied a very young, much smaller female and
was jack hammering his little monkey dick in her
upturned little quim with lightening speed from the rear.
Tina, now VERY interested, sat up and took notice of
the action on the screen. She blushed with some
embarrassment and giggled out, "Is that how grown-ups
do it?”
Me, being a Neanderthal male and thinking about who
was going to get jack hammered tonight as I watched
the show, didn't pick up on anything other than a
discussion of the program, but the other females in
the room perked up and looked at me questioningly
waiting for my reply.
"Sometimes Sweetie, but not that fast" I
answered
honestly not giving it another thought. We've always
been honest when discussing sex with her and Tiya.
Thinking back on it, I'm reminded that men as a whole
really haven't evolved too far above the spider monkey
in that when we see an attractive, receptive female,
all the blood from the big head migrates south to the
brainless little head, stimulating the testicles to
produce an ejacularus impregnatus. See? I know a
little Latin.
I know that having pussy on the brain is no excuse but
we're men and slaves to coitus ejaccularus
satisfiticus. I was oblivious to Tina's knowledge of
Latin also. Without any more questions or commentaries
for several minutes, the girls seemingly turned their
attention back to the furry, fucking Homo erectus on
the screen.
Being Homo sapiens, we are all inbred with this basic
knowledge of Latin and Tina was no different but
unbeknownst to me, she was attempting to become
fluent. She turned to face the screen, settling her
tight, little gluteus maximus overtop my penis maximus
and sat back against me pulling my arms around her waist.
Alarm bells should have been going off in my head but
noooooo, that pea-sized brain that has ejacularus
vaginus squirticus on the brain, infected with a touch
of mammaryitus never gave it a thought.
The species sitting on my lap, Faatinicus lolitus
virginatum seductrus probably instinctively knew
evolution is a slow process because she made no
further moves to promote genus coitus. Didn't I tell
you about those sneaky, intelligent females? Somehow
we men got fucked in the evolutionary process!
With only about ten minutes of the program left,
Faatinicus Lolitus again must have instinctually known
that the window in the time/space continuum of species
survival was at hand (They must have invented Latin!).
Faatinicus gently pressed gluteus maximus against
penis maximus then turned and kissed me on the mouth.
It was a closed mouth kiss but it lingered MUCH longer
than it should have.
I would like to interject here why I've used
"pig"
Latin. In the retelling of these events, in a somewhat
humorous and inane way, I want to demonstrate how a
seemingly innocuous and innocent series of events can
have far-reaching and monumental effects on our lives.
If we surreptitiously ignore certain signs, thinking
they'll all work out, instead of dealing with them
head on when our gut warns us of impending disaster it
can lead to real trouble. Non-action is actually an
action and we end up having to deal with its
consequences. I should have seen this coming!
NOW… alarm bells go off in my pea-sized retardicus
cerebellum! Latin lessons were definitely over!
My heart literally stopped! I was shocked and stunned
by what I saw in her eyes. She looked at me with a
sweet innocent love but there was smoldering passion
behind that innocence. All four of my wives must have
been unobtrusively watching out of the corners of
their eyes but were now looking at the two of us with
undivided attention.
I gently nudged Tina to get up and said, "Come on.
Let's take a walk."
She rose and I followed suit as I gave my wives a
concerned look. Tina took my hand as I led her out the
back door to the garden. Holding my left hand in her
right, Tina hugged herself to my arm with her left,
pressing her little half-lemon of a breast into my arm
as we walked silently towards the garden gate. I
didn't push her away, figuring it'd be best addressed
when we spoke.
As we walked in silence, flashbacks of my nightmare
returned. I remembered when the demon summoned me to
look at a scene in my nightmare and Faatina was
fellating a faceless male as the demon said, "It all
started with her…"
I broke out in a cold sweat and shivered at the
memory. We pushed open the gate and Faatina let go of
my arm, sat by the fountain pool and dragged her hand
through the water just as Miko had done on our wedding
day. She looked at me and smiled, saying with a sigh,
"Isn't it so romantic here?"
"Yes it is," I replied stoically, "Come on,
let's go
to the pagoda and talk."
Tina rose, took my hand and we walked over the bridge
to the pagoda. I had her sit on the bench then sat
next to her, leaning forward with my elbows on my
knees, turned my head and looked at her in silence for
several moments.
Starting with a heavy sigh, I asked, "Is there
something you want to tell me?"
"Don't you know?" she asked seductively as she
gave me
a coquettish smile.
"I think so Tina, but I'm not positive," I
answered,
"And I don't want to assume anything if my suspicions
are correct; I know how important this is to you and I
don't wanna get it wrong."
In a firm but gentle, even tone I replied, "Do you
know what assume means? It means… if I assume
something, I'm likely to make an ass out of you and
me. Assuming always gets people in trouble when one
person doesn't have all the facts. Why don't you
clarify things and tell me how you REALLY think and feel?"
"I love you Daddy," She answered taking my
hand.
"I love you too Baby," I answered, "More
than you'll
ever know."
"You know what I mean Daddy," Tina said with
more
inflection.
"I think I do but then again I'm not sure
Sweetie," I
asked, "Why don't just you tell me."
"I love you Daddy: like a woman, not like your
daughter," she almost implored, "Like Leeya does."
"I see," I replied, "I must say, I'm
surprised and
flattered, but when did you have this… this epiphany?"
Looking down, Tina said, "I've been thinking about
it
for a couple of months now and I realized that you're
everything I ever want in a husband and lover. When I
think that I was once your wife, I just fall deeper in
love with you."
Still holding hands, I rubbed the top of her left hand
with mine and said, "Ya know Sweetheart, that's
probably the greatest joy of my life, but at the same
time the most heartbreaking."
"What do you mean?" she asked confused as I saw the
tears well up in her eyes.
"What I mean is this." I began as I let go of
her
hand, sat up straight and turned to look at her, "It's
the greatest joy and achievement of my life, in that
every father in the world thinks there's not a man
alive that's good enough for his baby girl because NO
man can love her like her father. If you see in me,
the traits that you believe in your heart your ideal
soul mate should possess, that's a very high honor
indeed and it humbles me greatly."
I swallowed audibly hard, clinched my jaw and waited
to find the strength to continue without breaking
down, then began again, "On the other hand, it's the
most heartbreaking because unfortunately, we can never
share the love you want…"
Tina burst into tears and started to bolt from her
seat when I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to
my lap, enfolding her in my arms as she sobbed. I just
held her, cradling her head in my hand and letting her
cry herself out as I cried in silence with her.
When she'd calmed down some, I wiped her tears like a
father would, kissed her forehead and pulled her again
to my chest. "Let me finish, OK? This is just as hard
for me to say as it is for you to hear."
Sniffling and crying she nodded against my chest and I
started again, "There are several reasons why we
cannot have the love you desire. I married you out of
love, not a carnal or marital love. I married you to
save your life so that you could live and grow up to
become the beautiful young woman you are today. When
the Imaam granted me the divorce, according to Muslim
law, you are forever forbidden for me to remarry."
Tina sat up, put her arm around my shoulder and looked
at me, waiting for me to continue. "And now I think
it's time I told something about your dear 'ole Dad
you didn't know; something dark, evil and very hard to
admit. Priya was eleven when I married her and Leeya
was five. I was going to marry another child bride
younger than you, remember us talking about Emmy?"
"Um hum," Tina nodded as she continued to look
at me.
"Well," I answered, "Emmy was my second
cousin and she
was eight. We fell in love but she died in India a
week before we were to marry. You and she drank from
the same water bottle that gave you meningitis. At
that time, I had an overpowering attraction to very
young girls. This attraction haunted me even though I
never thought I'd ever do anything sexual with my
children. The entire week you and I were married, I
never had a sexual thought about you; you were my
infant daughter and we were married only to preserve
your life. Anyway, every night that week I had elusive
nightmares and it wasn't until the fifth night that
the nightmare became vividly clear. In that vision,
the devil showed me what my life would be like if I
continued to lust after small girls. That vision
showed generations of my children engaged in all kinds
of filthy sexual acts, including you. The demon told
me that my children were only doing what I'd taught
them and it all began with abusing you."
"Oh Daddy!" Tina sighed as she hugged me
tightly.
"You see Tina," I continued, "Even though
we can't
remarry, if we had an intimate relationship together
as husband and wife like you desire, our whole family
would be destroyed. All the blessings we share, the
love that controls our happiness and binds us
together, gone, all gone, destroyed for a moment's pleasure."
Gaining some understanding, Tina said calmly, "I see."
"It is my fervent hope," I encouraged,
"That some day,
you'll meet the man of your dreams and he'll love you
more that I ever could! I believe that God has a soul
mate for each and every one of us. When He knows we're
ready to accept His gift of a soul mate, we meet them
face-to-face. Before Allah gave me Monaavi and Miko, I
had to overcome my desire for young girls. If I
hadn't, then my life would have been totally destroyed
along with all those I love. I know how much you're
hurting right now and it hurts me even more because
I'm the cause of that pain. Me trying to tell you to
wait for some unknown young man is also painful but
this is the way it's meant to be."
"Do you hate me Daddy for having these
feelings?"
"Never Baby, in fact I'm very flattered. I could
NEVER
hate you," I softly said with a loving smile, "My love
for you is eternal, abiding and will always be there
to comfort you and shield you from the evils of this world."
"OH DADDY!" Tina cried as she flung her arms
around me.
She sat up after a few minutes, looked down shyly and
asked me, "Am I pretty Daddy?"
I tickled her ribs and joked, "Sweetie, you're so
stunningly beautiful, if I were your age, I'd be
sucking face with you right now, with a raging you
know what, trying to sample your charms!"
"DADDY!" Tina giggled slapping my arm,
"No wonder
Leeya calls you a letch!"
"Seriously though," I injected, "I would
like you to
make me a promise. You're old enough to make some of
these decisions for yourself, but if you can, I'd like
to ask you to make me a promise. I only ask you to
promise if you think you can keep it, understand?"
"Anything Daddy," Tina vowed, "Anything
at all."
"I want you to promise me," I requested,
"That until
you meet this man of your dreams, that you never ever
let a boy touch you, no matter how excited you get or
want to."
"But Daddy," She asked, "Kids do stuff
all the time,
why should I have to wait?"
"Because Princess," I explained, "You can
only give
your innocence away once, then it's gone forever. The
greatest gift you can give to the man of your dreams,
the man you'll spend your life with, is something so
special, no one has ever seen or touched, and that's
you, your body. You'll know when it's right because
he'll love you more than I ever could."
"I promise Daddy," she tearfully vowed
sincerely, "And
if that man never comes, I will spend my life pure as
the driven snow, loving only you."
I broke down and sobbed in my daughter's arms like a
babe at the unconditional expression of her love for
me. After several minutes of uncontrollable sobbing
what eased my heart was a voice, a very faint,
ethereal voice deep in my soul that sounded like Emmy
saying, "You're free, finally free…"
As I looked at my child with tear-filled eyes, she
kissed my tears away. Her kisses now were innocent,
loving and sweet. We walked back to the house with
Tina nestled under my arm. When we entered the back
door, Tina stood on tippy-toes, kissed my cheek and
said, "Goodnight Daddy, I love you," and scampered up
the rear staircase to bed without waiting for a reply.
I walked to the family room where my wives impatiently
awaited our return. I sat and explained, word-for-word
what had transpired and what I'd said. When I'd
finished Priya stood ready to go to Tina, but I
stopped her. I told them of the promise I'd asked Tina
to make and her unbelievably heart provoking vow.
Looking at Priya then the others I said, "Priya, I
think Miko should talk to her. Miko, I know it may be
hard for you to do, but could you talk to her, tell
her the difference between perceived love and true
love? Relate to her your terrible experience so that
she understands how much pain a mistake in judgment
can cause. I hate to ask you to relive all of this,
but for Tina's sake, can you do this for me?"
Miko gave me the sweetest smile and said softly,
"Isn't that what mothers are for? To help their
children avoid their parent's mistakes? Besides, I can
explain to her how healing a true love can be."
She kissed me tenderly and smiled at her sisters as
she left to attend to Faatina.
Overcome with emotion, I wept with my hands covering
my face and Leeya and Priya held me. Monaavi stood
next to us, rubbing my back as she said, "Sean, you
told her exactly what needed to be said. Don't worry,
Tina will understand and I truly believe that her
relationship with you will only get stronger because of this."
"I think Monaavi's only half right about that
right,"
Leeya said revealing her concern, " I've practically
raised her and I think I understand Tina better than
any of you. I have a suspicion that her feelings for
you won't just go away. I think Monaavi's right, in
that her feelings for you Sean will only deepen. But I
truly believe that she's already deeply in love with you."
Priya, Monaavi and I just looked at her stunned as she
continued, "If my suspicions are correct, she'll
revert back to being your daughter, never make another
overt move but she'll never marry. THAT'S what she
meant by her promise."
Hearing those words rent my heart and made me cry even
harder. To think my daughter, whom I loved as deeply
as my other three girls, would live a life of
unrequited love because of me. In frustration, I
lashed out at Leeya saying, "If you raised her, then
why didn't you see this coming, damn it?"
"I saw what you saw," Leeya replied tersely,
"And that
is a young girl going through puberty with what looked
like a normal crush on her father. Any father who's a
good father has dealt with this throughout the ages. I
never said anything because I surely wasn't gonna put
any ideas in her head. You have all the qualities to
be a good husband and she sees that, and that's a
perfectly normal thing to expect and be proud of. The
unique problem is, daughters aren't wives before
they're daughters and she can't, or won't, disconnect
the two right now. Maybe in time, but if I know her,
she'll just silently continue loving you."
"What can I do about it?" I asked in
desperation.
"Are you asking me," Leeya asked, "Or is
that an open
question?"
"Both." I answered sharply.
"If you're asking me," Leeya answered,
"I'd do nothing
for a while. It may be better to put her in public
school though so she can get involved in school
activities, meet kids her own age and see how she
does. Hopefully, she'll meet guys and wanna date as
she gets older like other girls do."
Priya looked at Leeya surprised and said, "God
Leeya,
how did you get so smart about stuff like this?"
Leeya gave her a half smile and replied, "Because
as
soon as I saw it, I did some research and studied some
psychology. You keep forgetting that my talent in life
is with mothering kids and I take that job very seriously."
"Leeya has an excellent idea," Monaavi agreed,
"I
think public middle school would be a push in the
right direction, don't you think?"
"OK," I agreed, "We'll register her for
the start of
second semester classes."
About thirty minutes later, Miko came down from her
talk with Tina. We were all holding our breath when we
saw her enter the room. She sat down next to me, on
the edge of the sofa, slapped her hands to her knees,
sighed and began. "Well Sean, we talked and I
explained the events of my life before marrying you
and she was surprised to say the least. After I'd
finished, she seemed to really understand why you and
her couldn't have the relationship that she seems to
want with you. She's also happy that you don't think
she's a slut, or hate her for having these feelings,
but there's something else going on that I can't put
my finger on."
"What?" I interrupted.
Miko gave a shrug with an "I don't know"
raised
eyebrow and answered, "I'm not sure, I got the feeling
she was holding back something; almost like she wasn't
being completely honest with me."
"See," Leeya interjected, "I told you so."
"Told Sean what?" Miko asked.
Leeya went on to repeat her observations to Miko and
what we felt might be a solution. After listening,
Miko responded with, "Oh my! No wonder she seemed
reluctant to talk in depth about her feelings for you Sean."
"There's a caveat to all this Sean," Monaavi
warned,
"And it'll all hinge on you. If you put distance
between the two of you, she's likely to rebel or lash
out thinking you don't love her anymore because of
tonight's incident. You really need to be careful, in
that you still act like her father, showing her the
same amount of love and affection, so she knows she's
still loved but as a daughter. You need to reinforce
that relationship, not push her away because you're
gun shy about expressing your love for her. It won't
be easy, knowing what you know about how she feels,
but YOU need to be the strong one here."
"I agree," Leeya said as Priya and Miko
nodded.
"I guess we'll just have to play it by ear
then," I
summed up, "Let's go to bed. I'm gonna sleep alone
tonight; I need to think."
Instead of going to bed, I left the house by the back
door and went to the garden. As if symbolically, I hid
myself in the dark, cloistered alcove of the
meditation bench, staring at the shimmering flecks of
moonlight as it glistened off the water cascading over
the rocks. I could hear the trickling sound of flowing
water as my heart pumped audibly in my chest.
"Is this to be my fate?" I asked myself aloud,
imploring to no one, feeling God had left me. "That
the sins of the father are laid upon the daughter? Is
she to pay my debt with a life of longing for that one
thing each heart desires; an unconditional and true love?"
The more I thought about it, the more confused I
became. Each question raised another and another and…
I suddenly felt rage at the thought and scowled,
"Is
it that fucking demon extracting retribution for all
the souls lost to him by my redemption? Am I being put
through the furnace of trial by fire by God like He
did with Job?"
All temptations are more easily succumbed to with a
coating of truth and a subtle, hinted reminder of our
own weakness, my demon, my curse, my once-forgotten
lust for nubile flesh.
I thought I'd put all this behind me! I'd had eight
years of bliss and happiness, fueled in the belief
that these blessings were from God. Was all this a
lie, a cunning trick to lull me into ultimately
fulfilling the vision the demon had laid before my eyes?
Thinking about it, I realized that our weaknesses, our
demons never ever leave us. They're always there,
lurking in the shadowy recesses of our minds, waiting
to pounce out of our subconscious to live again.
I also realized that whether or not we have a demon,
all of us struggle inside with some turmoil or
another. There are times when we think we'd like to
kill someone or even just shout some derogatory
comment, but ultimately, what we do about those
thoughts and feelings are the test of our character.
My demon may lie dormant in my mind, but if I've truly
dealt with it, overcome it, then I've earned the
blessings that God has brought into my life were truly
mine to have. And then there was that voice… the voice
deep within me that said I was free. A voice that
sounded like Emmy's, reassuring me that I'd done the
right thing.
It then dawned on me that I can't be responsible for
what Tina thinks or feels, but I certainly can be
responsible for how I react and respond to her
feelings. Tina or may not like it, or find it hard to
accept, but I still have to do what I feel is right.
Monaavi was right: all I can do is love Tina as a
father, reinforce that father/daughter relationship
and hope that God has someone special for her.
Feeling more at ease and relieved that I'd at least
come to some resolution in my mind and heart, I
returned to the house and went to bed. Having finally
convinced myself that what I'd decided was right,
sleep still came fretfully and with great angst.
The next morning, right before prayers, I greeted Tina
with a loving hug and a kiss on the forehead. Leeya
was right: she responded with a daughter's loving
smile, a hug and returned my kiss with one of her own
on my cheek. Although at first, our relationship
seemed normal and unchanged on the outside, I had to
struggle within myself to make it appear so. I just
couldn't wrap my head around the fact that my daughter
was deeply in love with me and wanted a sexual
relationship with me.
I surmised that the best way to get on with life was
to concentrate on what was important: namely, that the
three pregnant women I WAS married to would soon bring
new life to our family.
Leeya was her natural self, always cuddling with me
whenever she got the chance. Approaching six months,
she had a cute little pot of a belly bulge and looked
like the only place she grew was in her stomach.
Leeya's breasts hardly grew at all…yet.
Miko became even more submissive and I reassured her
often, telling her how proud and honored I was that
she was carrying our child. She reveled in being
pregnant because she could never really believe that
she deserved her happiness or the life growing within
her. Miko, like Leeya, was just starting to show at
fifteen weeks and had a small, compact little tummy bulge.
Monaavi, well she was like a beacon of glowing
motherhood. It amazed me that she carried herself with
a quiet, self-assured poise and grace because she knew
deep inside that she was born to be a mother. She was
in her element, doing what she believed (and we all
believed) that she was placed on this earth to
fulfill. Monaavi, at a little less than fourteen
weeks, was as big as Leeya and she'd walk around
rubbing the underside of her growing stomach teasing
me by whimsically saying, "God has made me fruitful, I
see twins on the horizon."
She's got a sixth sense about these things and I was
beginning to wonder…
With Miko and Monaavi expected to deliver within
eleven days of each other, we decided to schedule
their ultrasounds for the same day, one right after
the other. Knowing Leeya was carrying little Emma
Marie, I was hopeful that Miko or Monaavi would bear
me a son. I already had four daughters (five if I
counted my near daughter Attiya) and, with another on
the way, it would be nice to sort of balance out the
siblings with a male or two.
I wasn't one of those men who longed for or was
obsessive about having a son, probably because of my
experiences in India with the misogynistic attitudes
about girls. To me, a child was a child: boy or girl,
and as long as mother and child were healthy, the joy
for me was the same. The downside to having all girls
is that it seemed to reinforce the fact that I was
literally pussy-whipped, whether it was by a one year-
old or a thirty year-old female. I'm such a push over!
It was decided that Miko and Monaavi would deliver at
GBMC while Leeya would deliver at Union Memorial. The
nurses and staff at GBMC had already figured out the
unusual relationship Miko shared with Priya, Monaavi
and I and was supportive and understanding, keeping
our confidence even though some disagreed with our
lifestyle; as long as Miko was happy, loved and
supported, they didn't seem to mind.
The only concern Dr. Simpson had was that of the
closeness of Miko and Monaavi's due dates. He said
that with a first pregnancy, Miko might be late in
delivering and said he wouldn't let her go past forty
weeks, while Monaavi, this being her second pregnancy,
might go early. With her reoccurrence of gestational
diabetes and the possibility of Toxemia and
Preeclampsia, she wouldn't be allowed to go past
thirty-eight weeks. It was gonna be close!
Oh well, it didn't really matter because those little
urchins seem to naturally have their own timetable as
to when they wanted to arrive anyway.
D-Day (or should I say see-day) was scheduled for next
week and hopefully we'd find out what we were going to
have soon enough. All we could do now was wait with
anticipation.
Twins… I hope Monaavi doesn't double up on us again:
that would make me the father of seven children!
We'll just have to wait and see…
Continued in Chapter 99…
Edited by Daibhidh
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