Forever Yours
©2025 Elder Road Books - Lynnwood WA
Chapter 47: Recovery
HENRY’S DOCTOR indicated his arm and leg were healing, but with the surgery to rebuild and pin the bones together, it would take a while before the casts would come off. He estimated that in two weeks he might be able to change the arm cast to just an upper arm brace which would allow him to bend at the elbow, but the upper arm and shoulder would still be immobile. Henry considered it good news as it might give him both hands to use on his computer.
Instead of going home, Germaine took Henry, Chastity, and Lisa to the office. Germaine efficiently loaded and unloaded Henry from the van which was parked in a new handicap spot in front of the office building. The wheelchair was a pain but with the lift on the van, it was efficient. He was wheeled to the elevator and up to the third floor.
When the door opened, the entire company was present to applaud and cheer his return.
“I don’t know what you’re cheering about,” Henry grumped. “I’m just one more distraction from your work.”
“Boss, you are much more than a distraction,” Conrad said. “You’ve been gone for five weeks. We’ve hardly gotten anything done without you to drive us. Speaking of which, we know it’s a pain for you to get around in a wheelchair one-handed, so we all got together and leased this electric chair for you.”
The staff parted to reveal an electric-powered wheelchair. Henry was moved. Literally, from the original chair to the new one.
“It’s so comforting to know you all want to put me in an electric chair,” Henry said. “Thank you. I know you’ve been busy. I know the Network Defense system has been released and I congratulate you all.”
“Delphos Network Armor,” Conrad corrected him. “You said to think up a name and Luke approved it.”
“I like that. It definitely has our company’s DNA,” Henry joked. To their credit, most of the staff understood the joke. “I’m not going to waste more of your time. I don’t expect to be here for long today. I’ll be back on Monday to welcome our new Director of Security Systems. You’ll all want to meet him then. For now, I’d just like to sit down with my partners and check in on the overall health of the company. It doesn’t look like you’ve suffered any without me. Thank you for this chair. It wasn’t important when I was just sitting around at home. It will help a lot now that I plan to come into the office regularly.”
He wheeled into Luke’s office and Germaine collapsed the old chair and put it in a closet. Then she had other duties to tend to.
“How are you doing, Henry?” Luke asked. “I was hoping to see you out of at least one cast this afternoon.”
“I should get partial mobility in my arm in a couple of weeks,” Henry said. “The hardest has been being confined to the house, though having Lisa there has made it bearable.” He patted Lisa’s hand. This wasn’t an official board meeting, so there was no problem having her there. It was just the friends checking in with each other. “A physical therapist has been coming in three times a week to work with me on exactly how much I can move. I suppose now that I have transportation, I’ll need to go to his office for therapy. It’s a pain.”
“Lisa, you’re looking unscathed,” Luke said. “Chas had some nasty bruises, but it looks like they’ve all faded now.”
“Mine was in the back of my head,” Lisa said. “I’m out of concussion protocol now.”
“My ribs still hurt a little if I dare to take a deep breath,” Chastity said. “Or if I sneeze.”
“I’m so sorry you were all caught up in this. And I mean all of you. Even though you weren’t in the car with us, I know Luke and Isobel were hurt by what happened and I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Henry,” Lisa chided.
“How can I believe it’s not my fault? That preacher guy blames me personally for causing people to turn away from God. He sent the Russian hackers and he sent that guy who rammed us,” Henry said vehemently.
“God spared you this time, Henry. You just need to mend your ways,” Isobel said from across the table. Henry squinted at her.
“Izzy, I thought it was supposed to be God who sent that bastard preacher after me,” he said coldly.
“God repented of destroying Nineveh when he sent Jonah there. God can repent from destroying Henry Pascal,” Isobel insisted.
“I see.” Henry thumbed his phone and called up a dictionary. “‘Repent: to feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one’s wrongdoing or sin.’ So, let’s see if I can get this straight. God sinned by sending that Flagston fellow to ram our car and injure Lisa, Chastity, and me. Now he regrets his sin. Right? Am I supposed to forgive him?”
“Henry, that’s not the way faith works,” Isobel began.
“Let it go, Izzy. God had nothing to do with it. God hasn’t had anything to do with anything for thousands of years—if ever. This was all about an egotistical sermonizer who whipped people into a frenzy over a computer program. Then when people took action on his words, he denied ever having said anything that meant they should kill us. Dog whistling. It happens all the time. Next thing you know, he’ll want to run for president. I don’t even blame the stupid fellow who got himself high so he’d have the courage to ram me. That preacher is the only one I blame.”
“I didn’t realize you were so angry,” Luke said. “I don’t blame you, though.”
“Sorry, guys. I believe he’s a clear threat to each of us in this room, and possibly to everyone out there in the office. We need more security and I want to launch a lawsuit against that preacher.”
Henry had intentionally not looked at any news about the preacher since he’d launched his AI. He knew, however, that he needed to present a front that indicated he was going after him legally. Maybe that was as evil as the preacher was, but he was not going to stop until Rev. Daniel Reeves and the Sword of the Spirit Evangelical Church were no longer were a threat.
“We’ve hired more security,” Chastity said.
“And you might not even need to go after the preacher,” Luke said. “I’ve been following news about him just to be sure we were up to speed on any threats. We haven’t wanted to worry you about it. It seems he’s currently under a federal investigation for fraud and embezzlement. There’s talk about him having hired foreign mercenaries to launch an attack in the US. That puts him under suspicion of domestic terrorism.”
“It couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy,” Henry said.
Except for me. I suppose I’m really no better than he is.
Germaine held doors and helped guide his chair to the lift on the van. Henry banged his leg a couple of times, but he managed to get turned around and Germaine fastened the safety straps so he couldn’t roll or be thrown from the chair. Lisa and Chastity observed all the operations and when they got home, Germaine let the two of them help maneuver him into the house under her guidance. As good as the day had been, Henry was also exhausted. It was the most activity he’d had since the accident.
“I know it’s almost dinnertime, but I really need a nap,” he said when they were inside and Germaine left.
Lisa and Chastity helped him out of the clothes they’d customized for him. That amounted mostly to cutting off one arm from a sweatshirt and one leg from sweatpants. Henry didn’t feel like he’d made a very good impression in the office. They promised to help him with something more presentable for Monday.
Stripped to his slit boxers, they helped him into bed, both kissed him, and pulled the shades in the room so he could get some rest.
Henry awoke to the sensation of his cock in a welcoming mouth. He hadn’t felt that in a long time. His one attempt to masturbate had been unsuccessful. He didn’t think he’d have that problem now.
“Hey. What’s up, babe?” he asked Lisa as he petted her hair with his right hand.
“Yum. You are,” she said.
“This is...” he started to explain that she didn’t need to do this when Chastity pushed one of her pierced nipples into his mouth.
“Just the nipple, boy. Don’t touch the ribs,” she said.
He fully enjoyed toying with her breasts with his tongue. He didn’t have mobility on that side of his body to caress her while his right hand was still on Lisa. Lisa popped off his cock.
“I’ve been married for five weeks and haven’t had sex in four of them,” she said. She moved up to put one of her own bare breasts next to his mouth. “With my husband,” she amended. “I talked to your doctor today and he said if we could figure out how to do it, there was nothing preventing us from having sex.”
“Except forty pounds of plaster,” Chastity giggled.
“It’s not the weight that’s the problem,” Henry said. “I can’t move.”
“Oh, baby! I’ll do all the moving that’s necessary,” Lisa said.
She scrambled up onto the bed and Chastity rushed around the bed so she was on the unplastered side of Henry. She steadied her girlfriend as Lisa rose up and positioned Henry’s erection at her opening.
“I might need a little support as I move up and down on this, but I am definitely going to have you in me!”