Chapter 28: They’re Off!

Several weeks after Lynn had come home, things were almost back to O’Dell normal. Blossom had the children in classes daily and they seemed to be moving at breakneck speed as she taught them during the days and the Babies taught them at night.

At the end of the month the whole family went to see Doctor James Grand, the moms OB/GYN, and he announced that Erin and Lynn were indeed pregnant and that Lynn’s injury shouldn’t affect the pregnancy at all.

“Now then, you all know that we can’t tell how many babies you two will have just yet. Give it another six to eight weeks and we’ll do an ultrasound to let you know how many babies you’re growing.”

“OK, James. We’ll see you for our eight and twelve week exams. And remember that Paul doesn’t ever want to know the sex of the babies.”

“I know. I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

Just for the fun of it we all marched down to the ED. Finding it to be a very quiet day, I asked the lady at the reception desk if Doctor Baselton was available. A few minutes later, Doctor Baselton came out of the ED doors accompanied by a nurse and expecting a patient. He and the nurse stopped dead in their tracks.

“Oh my. I’m going to need a few more nurses,” he said quickly.

“No!” I replied. “No you won’t, Doctor. This isn’t an emergency. This is the O’Dell family. You have saved two of our wives so I thought that you’d like to meet the entire family.”

“Lord have mercy,” the poor man said.

“I know. I say that all the time. Do you remember Erin O’Dell? You fixed her badly broken jaw.”

“I do remember. Hello Erin.”

“Hi Doctor Baselton. Let me introduce you to my children.”

Erin’s children all lined up as she spoke. Each had a big smile on their face.

“This is Margaret Erin, my oldest. These twins are Penelope Erin and Paula Erin. Then there are the triplets Amy Erin, Beth Erin, and Clara Erin. And finally the twins Hanna Erin and Elyse Erin.”

“Only one single?” he asked in astonishment.

“No, actually Margaret Erin’s sister was killed a couple of years ago in a home invasion.”

“So many multiples. This is amazing!”

“You should talk to Doctor James Grand. He’s the man who delivered all of them.”

“Doctor Baselton,” I added. “This is my wife Blossom.”

“Hi, Doctor Baselton. Thank you for saving my wives. These are my children. Gwenyth Blossom, William Blossom and Roger Blossom.”

“Is there a reason that the children have their mother’s first name as their middle one?” Dr. Baselton asked.

“I guess the smart answer is to better identify them. My answer is that I wanted to honor their mothers because of the unique nature of our family.”

“Really, Paul?” Lynn asked.

“Yeah, Lover. When I named Taylor Erin and Margaret Erin I was so proud to be a father again and I wanted to honor the women who were giving me this gift.”

I got kisses from my three wives and, blushing, continued with the introductions.

“And last but not at all least, my first wife, Lynn O’Dell. You’ve met.”

“I should say so,” Dr. Baselton said with a smile.

“Hi Doctor. Thank you again for having the skill to save my life and keep my children from being orphans. These are my kids. Line up gang.”

Lynn’s children lined up in front of her and Lynn proceeded.

“These are my eldest, Genevieve Lynn and Erin Lynn. These are the next set, Martha Lynn and Wanda Lynn. And these little loves are my babies Paul Lynn and Benjamin Lynn.”

Doctor Donald Baselton looked at the line up. For ED doctors, they usually never see the people they save after the fact. Their job is to save them and get them to a specialist who can fix them. He lifted his left hand to wipe his eye.

“You know it is seldom that we trauma doctors get to see the results or the effect of our work. To see so many children affected because of what my staff and I have done is overwhelming. Hang on a second!”

With those words, Dr. Baselton left the lobby and went through the swinging doors to the ED. When he returned he had two other doctors and seven nurses with him. They all stopped cold in front of the large group in the lobby.

“I would like you folks to see what happens when we do our jobs the right way. Some of you remember Mrs. Lynn O’Dell from a few weeks ago. She was the victim of a gunshot. The O’Dell family is unique and amazing. Before you stand a husband, Mr. Paul O’Dell, and three wives. Erin O’Dell, Blossom O’Dell and Lynn O’Dell. Each of the wives have had only multiple births and their children are grouped with their mothers. I’m not going to do all the introductions, suffice it to sat that had Mrs. Lynn O’Dell not gotten our best efforts, the redheaded children in front of her would have been orphans and the step children lined up before the other Mrs. O’Dells would be short a stepmother. Sometimes we get caught up in the madness. I wanted you to see the results of at least one of your efforts.”

With that, I began to applaud and the entire family immediately joined in with me. Margaret Erin then ran forward and began to thank each doctor and nurse and shake their hand. Then spontaneously, each of the children followed and their mothers and I finished the tribute.

“Thank you. All of you,” I said, not fully succeeding in holding back my emotions.

The moms lined up the family and we headed out the door. Back on the bus, I sat next to Lynn and told her that we needed to make sure the hospitals ED never had a need of equipment.

“I’ll arrange for as needed grants to the hospital for their Emergency Department and their OB/GYN Department. They have other sources for their day to day needs but the Foundation will be there if they have a dire need.”

“Thank you Lover. Blossom Mom, are you ready to drive us home?”

“Yeah, it just took some time to adjust the seat up from the gangly, long-legged, goober that was driving before me.”

“I love you too! Take us home.”

After the 12 week scan the wives and children were buzzing about the new babies. The Herd was couldn’t express how happy the Babies were when they dreamed to them at night. At least twice a week I took a good amount of time to speak to Erin’s and Lynn’s babies when we were in bed at night.

One day Margaret Erin came to me with a concerned look on her face.

“Daddy?”

“Yes my little love.”

“I think you should talk to Mother. Last night the Babies told me that she is upset but they wouldn’t say why.”

“I’ll do that right now. Thank you Margaret Erin.”

“I love you, Daddy.”

“And I love you, very much.”

I looked around the house and found Erin out by Taylor Erin’s memorial. She was just sitting and talking quietly as she nursed Roger Blossom. I approached her and when I was close enough to be heard, I coughed to announce my presence.

“Oh, hello, Sweetie.”

“Hello to you,” I answered and then seeing the look on her face I asked, “What’s the matter, Sweetie?”

“Lynn is acting funny. I was wondering if she had spoken to you about anything.”

“No, she hasn’t said anything to me. I assume that she hasn’t said anything to Blossom.”

“Actually, Blossom is the one who brought it to my attention.”

“So, tell me what ‘acting ‘funny’ means to you,” I asked.

“She is not smiling as much. She is not as playful,” Erin explained.

“Well for God’s sake, she’s still healing from getting shot. I’m still a little shaken from shooting James,” I said.

“I understand. Sometimes you mumble in your sleep and you’ve said a few things about shooting James. But she seems to be getting distant and Blossom can’t figure out why and now that I’m looking for it, I see it too, and I don’t know why either.” Erin smiled and kissed me on the end of my nose.

“Let’s have a family meeting and talk about it, tonight after we put the girls and all the babies to bed. By the way, just because I am a dirty old man, does it feel weird to have one empty tit during feeding time?” I wondered.

“I guess. But with one of the six usually available now, we usually use that time to express milk with a breast pump so we have enough in storage. We might need it when mom and dad or Dara and Travis babysit.”

Mom and dad were Blossom’s parents, Gwenyth and William Martinez and Dara was Lynn’s first daughter. Trent Semple was Dara’s husband.

“We also need to have a supply for cooking and if we ever need to make a “White Lynn,” I joked.

“Or a “White Blossom”,” Erin said licking her lips.

“Or a “White Erin”,” I said as I rubbed my crotch.

“Keep rubbing and you can make me a “White Paul” and I would love one of those.” Erin licked her lips again and tweaked both her milky nipples before offering her wet fingers to me.

As we sat teasing each other, Lynn walked into the yard, saw us and walked straight back into the house. I looked at Erin and she at me.

“See what I mean.”

“Yeah. Something is really not right. I’m going to go and talk to her,” I said as I stood.

I walked back to the house and through the back of the garage into the kitchen door. I walked out onto the deck to find my first wife, in all her naked glory, leaning on the deck railing. I quietly walked up behind her and lightly traced along her vine tattoo before I wrapped my arms around her, cupping her left breast with my right hand and her right breast with my left hand. I pulled her tight to my chest and began to kiss her neck and shoulder, while I traced some kisses up the vine tattoo and onto her bald head.

Lynn moaned and leaned her head back and to the side to allow me access to more of her neck. I kissed her neck and gently rolled her nipples between my thumb and forefinger. She pressed her glorious butt back against me, catching my growing erection between her ass cheeks.

“Lover?” I said softly. “Blossom and Erin are concerned that you have been very quiet. I noticed it a bit, too, but I thought it was from the shooting. Are you OK?”

Lynn raised her hands and placed them on each of mine and squeezed my hands and her breasts. She made a few soft mews and moans before releasing my hands and turning in my arms to kiss me. She wrapped her hands around my neck and began to softly kiss my chest.

“Truth?” She asked me that one word question.

“Truth,” I answered.

“I have been feeling a little bit lonely. I see Erin and Blossom always loving on each other and I’ve been feeling sort of left out. They cuddle together when they feed the babies. Erin has her two, Blossom has her baby and I end up sitting by myself with my sons. I’m starting to feel like I’m not married to the two of them.”

I nodded and was getting ready to say something when I felt the first drop of wet tear on my chest. I squeezed her to me a little tighter. I kissed the top of her tattooed head for a few seconds and then I separated us just enough so I could look into her eyes.

“I’m sure it is just a phase. But to tell you the truth, if it means that I get to spend more time with you, it makes me happy.”

“I love you too, Paul.” She got very still and very quiet for a few minutes before pressing the side of her face into my chest and speaking softly.

“Paul? Do you ever wish that just you and I had married?”

“No. Not really. I mean after I asked you to marry me and you said yes, I was the happiest man in the world. I had gotten over my ghosts and was looking forward to spending the rest of my life in your arms,” I said.

“Then I dragged Erin into our bed and that idea went out the window,” Lynn let out a sigh.

“And I found myself doubly blessed!” I whispered into her ear. “But Lynn, please tell me what brought this on.”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking it over and I can’t put my finger on it.”

“Are you feeling that I don’t love you?”

“No!” She looked up at me like she’d hurt me.

“How about Erin? You have loved her longer than you’ve loved me.”

“No.”

“How about Blossom. I’m the one that did the dragging after my adventure in Houston. Is her closeness to Erin bothering you?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Has Erin been spending more quiet time with Blossom than with you? Are you feeling a little bit jealous?”

She pulled me to her and the tears began to flow.

“Is that it? Do you feel that Blossom is stealing your lover away from you?” I asked.

“Maybe so,” She mumbled.

“You’ve had how many dates with Blossom since we started up our date nights?”

“Four.”

“Were they nice dates?”

“Yes.”

“Did you end up with a closer intimacy than before?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“You don’t know? Come on, what is bothering you. You know, I think that you’re afraid to say it out loud.”

“When we got home from our date, I was looking forward to a night in Blossom’s arms, but when we got home, she ran to Erin.”

KABOOM!

“So are you afraid that you are losing Blossom to Erin or Erin to Blossom?”

She leaned onto me and quietly said, “Both.”

“Come on. Family meeting.”

“No! I don’t want to embarrass them or me.”