Forever Yours
©2025 Elder Road Books - Lynnwood WA
Chapter 68: Paving the Way
“YOU KNOW WHAT I love about sex with my wives?” Henry asked the air in his study at home. Of course, Forever Yours was recording. “They are ... we all are completely committed to it. I know I had sex before I was married. Not often. But other than Chastity and Lisa, it was something we decided to do, wanted to do, but we weren’t really committed to it. Kaitlyn used sex to try to trap me into a relationship neither of us really wanted. Carol and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t really integral to our relationship. Golf was more integral to our relationship than sex was.”
He opened a calendar on his computer and scanned back a few years.
“Yeah. Not much before that. One time and done.”
Henry paused when he saw the date of his high school prom. May 9, 2026. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He’d taken Chastity and spent the night with her. But before they went to their room, she arranged to have Isobel fuck him in an alcove out of sight of the ballroom. It wasn’t even a one-night stand. He was in and out in five minutes. He barely got his hand on her bare breast.
Still, it was a fantasy fulfillment for both of them. As satisfying as an orgasm could be, but emotionally void. It didn’t grow out of or herald the beginning of a relationship. It was just a quick fuck.
When he and Chastity had gone to their room, they were totally committed to each other. Oh, Chastity made it clear she wasn’t his girlfriend, but that she was always available to him. And they’d taken advantage of that commitment on several occasions. But when Chastity fell in love with Lisa, she was able to fully confess her love for Henry. He was able to admit he loved her as well. Chastity was fully committed to Henry from their first encounter. That’s what he always remembered about May ninth. His first time with Chastity.
And Lisa. How much more committed could you be than to bear a child?
“My life would be nothing without Chas and Lis. I used to think it was programming and development that I was committed to, but I could turn my back on that today and never look back. It would kill me to lose Chastity or Lisa or Cassie or Will. I’ve never loved anyone or anything so much as I love them. When I saw that guy grab Paul, my heart stopped. I would have attacked him ... was on my way to attack him ... when Germaine shot him. My instant thought was to cheer because she’d killed him. But she didn’t kill him and I still wanted to. He hurt my son. Godson. What difference does it make? He is as dear to me as my other children ... as my wives.
“I don’t understand how anything can be so important to me. So important I would give up my life to save them.”
Henry heard his son stirring over the baby monitor and went to change him and take him to Lisa for feeding. After he was asleep, Henry would finally join his wives in bed.
“My fucking father?” Isobel screamed.
She’d taken a call at the office from a number in Florida, assuming it was a response to her inquiry regarding converting some company assets to crypto currency. It was a week before Thanksgiving and she’d been surprised to hear from a federal court. She slammed down the phone and charged out of her office screaming. Luke rushed to see what was wrong. Henry and Rick had been meeting with him to go over plans for the spatial holography.
“What’s happened?” Luke asked, coming to her side.
“It was my father!” Isobel exploded.
“What was?” Luke insisted.
“He paid those people to kidnap our son!”
“Was he arrested?” Luke asked.
“Oh, yes. Arrested, turned over to ICE, had an expedited trial, and he’s slated for deportation next week,” Isobel said.
“He’s a citizen!” Luke said. He wasn’t sure whether to be pleased with the news or if he should be comforting Izzy.
“Citizenship revoked upon commission of a felony,” Izzy said. “I got a call indicating that I could have one visit prior to deportation.”
“I’ll get a flight arranged,” Luke said.
Izzy started laughing. It quickly mounted to near hysteria.
“Don’t you dare!” she gasped. “He can rot in the swamps for all I care. If they send him back to Argentina, he’ll never see his children or grandchildren for the rest of his life! I hope they bury him alive!”
Luke got the message that it was a celebration, not a condolence. Izzy turned to look at Henry, who had followed Luke out of the office. She stepped up close to him, breaking away from her husband.
“You,” she hissed, barely audible. “You did this. Even after I accused you of endangering our son, you chased down my father and got him deported. We always believed you were our protector. Now we know.”
“I didn’t do anything, Izzy,” Henry protested.
“That’s the story we’ll go with,” she said. She turned back to her husband and then retreated to her office.
Henry hadn’t actually done much. He’d made sure Isandro was on ICE’s watchlist. But it was the man’s action trying to kidnap his grandson that got him arrested and deported. Henry had nothing to do with that.
He’d grown up in an era of raids on businesses, homes, and schools with deportation a common ‘punishment’ for being an immigrant. He’d protested against it, though not very vocally. He just made sure to vote in opposition when he had the opportunity. But now he was happy Isobel’s father had been swept up. At least he’d received an expedited hearing. That was an improvement. He wondered, though, where he’d be deported to and what his status would be when he arrived there.
There were no announcements of impending marriages or childbirths during the holidays. By Christmas, though, Will was using furniture to pull himself upright and cruise from handhold to handhold chasing Cassie and Paul. Isobel’s newfound maternal protectiveness of her son in October had returned to its former state of letting Grace handle childrearing as Isobel bragged about her son. She’d seemed less concerned after her father was deported. Paul and Grace were frequently at the Pascal house playing with Germaine, Cassie, and Will.
Lisa was back at work, but slipped out of her office several times a day to look in on the children with their nannies, and to feed the baby. Will was rapidly outgrowing his need for mother’s milk and Cassie only received an occasional suckle for comfort. She had too many sharp teeth for Lisa to want her latched on for long.
Henry, too, had begun working from home one day a week so he could look in on the children and take play breaks to let all three crawl over him. He read to them and then went back to his computer room to work another couple of hours. Chastity had decided she could work from home a day a week, but it was always a different day than Henry. They just all needed their baby time.
Chastity had also initiated several new company protocols and established a corporate security department to move their security in-house. The security team provided transportation for board members and corporate officers, as well as twenty-four-hour watchmen at both buildings.
The company continued to grow and they eyed a newly-constructed office building downtown for a company headquarters.
“This is our sixth company New Year’s Eve party,” Luke announced when people had gathered and dinner had been served. “We’re now 350 employees in three locations and four companies. Glad to have some of our California contingent from Page Services, and our Minnesota employees at Agora Power Cells manufacturing with us. Also represented are the team getting ready to revolutionize highway infrastructure, American Intelligent Machines.”
Everyone applauded. Of course, not all the employees attended the party. Many of those from Minnesota and California chose not to travel or were needed to maintain the local operations. Of those located in Pittsburgh, not many more than half the employees and their plus ones attended. It was still a crowd, and many elected to stay in the hotel where the party was held.
“We have some exciting news. The American Intelligent Machines fabricating shop in building two has informed me that an official test of the new highway paving robot has been scheduled for March 15, 2032. Less than three months away. Driven by Agora Power Cells, this brings us the full range of cells from powering desktop computers and servers to multi-ton pieces of construction equipment. And it’s a beautiful piece of machinery, I have to tell you.”
There was more applause and some hooting and hollering from both AIM and APC.
“That’s only a piece of the announcement, though,” Luke continued. “Three years ago, Open Cloak entered a joint venture with Argos Venture Capital and American Robotics Development Corporation to create American Intelligent Machines. We expect that venture to move forward in the public sector by late summer. So, over the next six months, the internal structure of that company will be maturing, preparing for completely independent operation.”
It was the first indication that the three companies would be spinning the company off independently from any of the three. It was still unclear if it would be through an acquisition or a public offering. Either way, employees stood to profit immensely.
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