Chapter 22: Tattie

“You shouldn’t go, Mistress,” Chiron said. “You always come back so depressed, so defeated. We worry about you.”

“Hush!”

Tatiana Turov looked at her subs ... her friends and companions – Chiron and Bedisa – as well as Julie, her partner in raising and teaching her children, and shook her head.

“He’s still my child.”

“And if you could visit him and not let it depress you so terribly,” Julie said, “it wouldn’t be a problem. But you can’t.”

“I will not abandon Yuri ... not in that place!”

“Then don’t abandon him, but stop going alone, Mistress,” Chiron snapped. “There’s no reason for you to take that whole weight on yourself.”

Bedisa smiled and said, in her native tongue, “Mistress, you should not go alone, it is foolishness to keep doing something that hurts you so. I am prepared to accept whatever punishment you wish to give me for speaking so freely.”

Tattie shook her head slowly, eyes closed.

“You people are going to be the death of me...”

“No, Tattie...” Julie replied. “You’ll be the death of you. We’re trying very hard to prevent that.”

She sat on the patio, watching Vashti and Svetlana play tag with Julie and Bedisa out in the yard.

Years ... decades ... of dealing with vapid boy-toys with not a brain among them had left her used to being the only intelligent person around.

Now she was in a house with five other intelligent people. Sometimes she allowed herself to forget that. Bless them all, they were very good at reminding her of the true state of affairs.

Tattie didn’t want anyone else to have to bear the burden of Yuri’s condition ... but she couldn’t deny it was crushing her. Maybe taking someone else along would help.

Who, though?

In the end, she decided on Chiron. If by some miracle Yuri spoke, he’d understand without Tattie having to translate ... and she didn’t feel right about laying that burden on someone young ... not until she saw if taking someone with her would help.

Waving to the kids, she went inside.

“Come on, old man, you’re my escort!”

He came out of his room, even though he rarely used it, dressed and ready.

“Yes, Mistress.”

Sometimes, Tattie had to wonder if she was the least intelligent person in her house.

Tattie wasn’t a big fan of being wrong ... but she’d had more than enough experience with it.

The visit itself ... was no different than any visits before.

Yuri was so drugged he was only in minimal restraints. As best she could tell, he didn’t know they were there. She read to him in Russian, he didn’t react at all. Chiron read to him for a bit. While that was different, there was still no reaction.

Afterward there was the same talk with the same doctor and the same crushing lack of hope.

But sitting in the back of the car, holding on to Chiron’s hand so tightly she worried she’d break him, it was easier to breathe, easier to cry, easier to let go of some of the pain.

For the first time, post-visit, she drank her coffee without brandy, and while she was still somber, she didn’t feel so much like a failure.

“Don’t gloat, Julie ... you were right. You were all right.”

“Happy to hear it. I was praying we were.”

“Don’t let it go to your heads...”

Vashti and Svetlana came in from the pool.

“Mother ... I hear you took good advice. You are better, yes?” Svetlana said, hugging her.

“Yes, darling. I am better.”

Tatiana glared at Julie.

“Okay, you can let it go to your heads a little,” Tatiana sighed.

Jason

He was sitting at a table in the salon, shuffling his deck of cards mindlessly, staring out the window at the Pacific. He found it soothing, and there had been times living with his mother where even video games didn’t soothe him as well as his cards.

“Hand of poker for your thoughts,” Susan said, sitting down across from him.

“I should warn you...”

“I’ve heard,” Susan said, smiling. “Almost looked like you were using the shuffling as a form of meditation.”

“Guess I was,” Jason replied, returning her smile. “All right then, one hand, I’m putting up my thoughts as stakes ... what are you betting?”

“Nothing like the bets in your last game,” she said, smiling. “What do you want as stakes on my side?”

“Well ... one thing comes to mind, Susan ... so ... uh ... fine, you lose, you act as bartender tonight.”

“Why do you think I have the faintest idea how to tend bar?”

“Mother Margo told me you tended bar to pay for school.”

“Yeah, I did. Okay, you got a bet. Shuffle, I’ll cut, you deal.”

“Okay ... my thoughts,” Jason said after his two pair, nines and jacks, went down to a full house, aces over threes. “I used to wonder why I was cursed ... Mom, you know?”

“I know.”

“So, it really used to ... depress me, I guess. I mean, I knew she would behave herself during the week ... well, most of the time ... but the weekends were so bad ... it got to where I couldn’t enjoy the weekdays, because Monday night, I’d start tensing up, knowing Friday night was just four days away. It got to where Sunday night was the best night of my week, even though I had school the next morning ... it was the calmest time for me. Whatever was gonna happen ... it had happened.

“And when a kid’s best time is Sunday night, with school the next day ... something’s seriously unhinged.”

He motioned to the bar.

“Coffee please?”

“Certainly, sir.”

“I lived in fear of what she’d do next, and when she came back from Dominique’s that night, so pleased with herself, so flush with cash ... Susan, I honest to God thought “This is it, this is the beginning of the end.” I thought she was going to get caught, go to jail, I’d have to go live with my hyper-Christian aunt and uncle ... if I didn’t know some kids in the foster care system, I might have thought foster care was preferable to Aunt Victoria and Uncle Jack.

“I gave up. I enjoyed what time I had left with her. That was how I was looking at it.”

His coffee arrived, and he doctored it to his satisfaction, noticing the bartender watch to see how he liked it. Jason doubted he’d ever have to add cream and sugar again.

“But ... that led to the Grimes, then to Donna, and Abby, and adoption ... and that was all ... well, all that was ... miracles. Miracles one and all.

“So, was I cursed because of Mom’s needs ... or were those needs a blessing ... a blessing in a real thick disguise? Before the Nelsons, I would have called it all a blessing, and never thought twice about it.

“But then the Nelsons happened, and part of me feels it flipped back to a curse. A curse I wouldn’t trade for anything, because of Donna, Abby, and my step-parents ... but when I dream of drowning and torture ... or even when they wake me up and tell me I was dreaming of the fire ... hard to feel all that blessed.”

Susan smiled, and said, “Sounds like you’ve got a good case of emotional whiplash going...”

Jason nodded.

“So, how do you feel?”

“Ask me a simple question, Susan, like... ‘recite pi to one thousand places’. It’s ... I have this whirlpool of stuff ... happy, sad, calm, angry, love, hate ... all of it going a million miles an hour.

“So, Susan, how should I feel?”

“I’m not here to tell you how you’re supposed to feel, Jason. I’m here to ask you questions, and to help you learn how you can best deal with everything going on.

“But make no mistake, Jason, I can’t do any of this for you. We’ll talk, we’ll try to figure out what you’re feeling, and I’ll suggest possible ways for you to cope with those feelings ... but you’ll be the one trying out those methods, and seeing which work for you and which don’t.”

“Sounds like it could take a while...”

“It can. Besides, if something seems like a quick fix, I’d be suspicious if I were you. People aren’t easy to ‘fix’. We’re very complex, and simple solutions don’t match up with complex problems.”

“Gordian knot.”

“What was that?”

“Alexander and the Gordian Knot ... that was a simple solution to a complex problem, wasn’t it?”

“If the end goal was a pile of useful rope rendered useless, then sure, solution and problem. Alexander could walk away from the pile and go about his merry way.

“An analogy in this situation might be a frontal lobotomy. Sure, you might not be bothered by pesky emotions ... but I’m not thinking you’d like all the side effects.”

“I see your point,” Jason laughed.

Radhika

If she was lucky ... very lucky ... the subbie she’d sent up to entertain Nigel Rabid would keep him out of her hair through the evening.

Radhika doubted she’d be that lucky.

“A Sister Francesca Wiley at the front gate wanting to see Madam...”

“Shit, what now? Thank you, Claudia. Send her up.”

A final pass through the kitchen to ensure Madam’s special supper was on schedule, a run through the family dining room to make sure the table was properly set ... and it wasn’t so that was being corrected, checking the patio to make sure it was ready for pre-dinner cocktails, inspect the den happy to see it had been dusted and prepped for after-dinner coffee.

Then to their unexpected guest.

Standing in the foyer was a plain woman in modest clothes. Her only extraordinary feature was an unruly mess of loose black curls gathered at her neck in a futile attempt to bring order.

“I’m Radhika, Madam’s personal assistant.”

“Sister Francesca Wiley. I’m here to speak with Margo Grimes...”

“Madam, there’s a Sister Francesca Wiley here to speak with you. I have her waiting in the chapel.”

“Shit,” Margo said, “I forgot Susan arranged for us to meet this evening. So, I invite her to dinner, where we’re hosting a brothel Madam. Won’t that be lovely?”

“Don’t worry, darling,” Harry said. “I’m sure Anna is socially adept at not answering questions about her profession.”

“God, I hope so, otherwise this is going to be a disaster of a dinner,” Margo replied. “All right, Radhika, please tell her I’ll be down momentarily.”

Margo

“Sister Francesca, my apologies,” Margo said, extending her hand. “Life’s been interesting lately, and our appointment this evening slipped my mind.”

“Not a problem, Madam Grimes,” the nun said, taking Margo’s hand.

“Call me ‘Margo’ ... I hope you’ll accept my invitation to supper?”

“Um, as long as it won’t be a burden ... and call me ‘Chess’, please.”

“Chess, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this is a large place, and it’s full of people. Another for supper isn’t a burden.”

“Yes ... Susan’s descriptive skills fell rather short concerning this place ... may I hope for a tour?”

“After dinner?”

“Certainly.”

“Madam, Ms. Smith has arrived at the front gate, she’ll be here shortly.”

Margo’s smile felt like cheap plastic on her face.

“Thank you, Radhika. Show her to the patio when she arrives. Cocktail, Chess?”

“Oh yes, Margo. I trust with this huge a staff, there’s at least one who’s a superb bartender.”

“Several, actually, we’re quite blessed.”

“Chess, please, allow me to introduce my spouses and family.

“Harry, my husband...
“Carol, my wife...
“Kelly, my wife...

“Magda, my wife...

“Lori, my wife...”

The nun’s eyes were noticeably larger than they’d been when introductions began.

“And our newest spouse, Dominique...

After greeting each of them with a nod, smile, and handshake, Chess asked “Anyone else?”

“Well, our son and his family are on their way to Hawaii, so no.”

“Son?”

“Adopted,” Harry replied.

“I see there’s a lot Susan didn’t tell you,” Margo said.

“We love to surprise each other,” Chess replied. “It’s going to take me quite some time to find something to equal this surprise.

“You are a lovely family, thank you so much for your hospitality.”

“Ms. Smith is here, Madam,” Radhika said.

Holy shit ... please, don’t be a disaster, don’t be a disaster...

“Chess! Darling! I didn’t know you’d be here!” Anna shouted.

“Anna! What a pleasant surprise!” Chess replied.

The two women closed on each other and hugged.

“Why am I not surprised?” Harry said, sotto voce, from behind her.

“Why am I surprised?” Margo replied, just as softly.

Carol

She was very happy with the vibe she was getting off Chess. Of course, she hadn’t thought Susan would steer them wrong, but still ... she worried.

It made perfect sense to her that Anna had hired Chess to work with her girls. And Carol did love Margo’s very carefully hidden reaction to the news. Margo was going to end up liking Anna in spite of herself.

They sat out on the patio, enjoying the temperate Central Texas weather, and Carol watched ... and felt ... the ebb and flow of conversation and emotion around her, responding only when directly spoken to.

Kelly was in pain, and doing a masterful job of pretending she wasn’t. For the evening, Margo had been firm there were no submissives or dominants, just a family, and while Kelly was playing along ... Carol could feel Kelly’s need to be on her knees. She was also more at peace than Carol had ever felt her. While it had taken near-catastrophe, Kelly might have finally found her place in the world.

Harry ... Harry was his normal charming self. But that was hiding anxiety about his operation ... and worry about the after-effects, unless she was missing something. While Harry would be good father, he was far from sure of that. Plus she’d heard his concerns about impregnating Patricia. While she was all for the idea, neither Harry nor Karen were, although Karen was doing her best to accept the idea.

Margo was struggling with her own prejudices, and like so many things with Margo, it was a slow and sometimes painful loosening of her mental and emotional sphincters. There were times Carol wanted to set up a Dark Room and throw her wife in for twelve hours. Carol wasn’t sure it would help, and it might well get her ass beaten far past the point of sexy-funtime, but sometimes she felt it was the only thing that might loosen her love up before the end of time.

Magda was ... Magda was at peace. She felt at home. Magda had found her place, and was content. And unless Carol’s hoodoo was completely out of whack ... Magda was pregnant. Magda was pregnant!

She turned to her spouse and mouthed “Are you pregnant?”

Magda smiled, and mouthed “I think so.”

It took all Carol’s will to not explode in tears and joyous laughter.

As the pre-dinner conversation continued, Carol calmed down so she could feel others beyond herself.

Lori ... Lori was ... sad. Physical desires going unfulfilled ... and Carol could understand. Just Harry’s dick wasn’t frequent enough on a purely physical level ... even Harry’s and Billy’s cocks weren’t enough. Toys were all fine and good, came in any size you could want, never went limp ... and weren’t alive. Adding in Jason and Eddie wouldn’t do much because they each came with their own group of women. What the family needed was a good old-fashioned night at Dominique’s where there was a larger pool of acceptable cocks. Sooner or later, the women in the family would find submissives to fill on the physical level ... but there hadn’t been enough time for that to happen yet.

Dommi ... Dominique Duvalier Grimes was the happiest Carol had ever felt her. She was in a family, loved and cherished, and from a conversation they’d had on the plane, hungry to become pregnant herself. Not something Carol had expected, but not a surprise. Dommi had a strong mother-instinct. It had led her to make her club a refuge, and despite her “Subbie’s Nightmare Drill Sergeant From Hell” routine, she loved those in her care deeply.

Carol herself ... well, she was no longer feeling guilty about having gotten Harry, and by extension, everyone else into this lifestyle.

Well, she wasn’t feeling as guilty.

Thinking on Harry’s injuries from the attack, the house fire, the mistreatment, kidnapping, and torture of the kids ... there would always be some guilt.

But without her, there wouldn’t have been near as much happiness either.

Carol supposed she’d just have to be content with that.

Radhika

The family and their guests had moved in to the dining room, and Radhika was feeling a sense of relief. Things were going smoothly.

“Hello, luv, can’t help but notice Madam Grimes is in fere, gonna go in an’ have a quick word...”

She’d always believed that ‘raising the hackles’ was an animal thing. Now she knew she’d been wrong.

“I don’t think so, Mr. Rabid. I think you’re going to make yourself so scarce I can’t even smell you anymore...”
“Now luv, don’t be fat way. Imma guest ‘ere, an’ you’re bein’ in’ospitable...”

“Listen you posturing little cockroach,” Radhika snarled, “guests don’t show up uninvited and unannounced. You take one step toward that dining room and I’m going to have security beat the shit out of you and dump you out on the road!”

“I will be speakin’ wif Madam Grimes about your attitude ... later.”

“Damn, I was looking forward to watching your beating.”

She kept an eye on him as he tried to leave with some shred of dignity.

Margo

During dinner, several of the house staff did beautiful jobs as servers, maintaining a level of service as superb as any restaurant she’d ever eaten at. Quiet, graceful, and efficient, drinks were refilled, dishes served, and taken away, as if by ninjas. Conversation among the diners wasn’t disturbed in the least.

And Margo wasn’t the only one to notice their skill.

“I don’t suppose you’d consider letting me hire your waitstaff...” Anna said.

“You’re welcome to, if they’re willing. You might have noticed, we don’t have a shortage of staff ... although if you do, I hope they’re paid what they’re worth.”

Margo saw the surprise on Anna’s face.

“They’re free to come and go, leave or stay, as they like. We have subs who are living in town because of their jobs. We miss having them here, but life is life. We also have subs who commute in and out of town as needed for their jobs, or school ... although hopefully that won’t be an issue too much longer.”

“Well, I heard you talking about your school...” Chess said.

“Yes, and while Texas’ ludicrously lax home-schooling regs won’t be a problem ... I have nightmares about just how ignorant kids meeting those regs can be. We’re aiming much higher.”

“Any vocational tracks?” Anna asked.

Margo smiled.

“At first ... well, that kind of training wasn’t even really on my radar – I admit, I’m hopelessly white-collar in upbringing and thinking.

“But once we ended up with this place ... outsiders coming in to perform maintenance and repair is a lot of hassle ... and can is expensive on top of that. So yes, we’re now planning vocational training for anyone interested. And if they choose to stay with us and apply their skills here, or at our properties in town, we’ll pay commensurate with what they’d earn working somewhere else. The savings to us is the hassle-free aspect. I’ll gladly pay the same amount to have an AC unit repaired by someone who is definitely available today, and won’t necessitate us all getting dressed and behaving ourselves.”
“Plus,” Harry said, “I’m not too wild about Houses keeping their subs uneducated and untrained. Falls into that whole “yeah, you can leave anytime you want to ... knowing nothing but life here” thing. If they decide to leave, I want them to be competent to walk out into the world, find a job, support themselves, live free.”

“I somehow think the very acts of educating and training them makes their leaving less likely,” Chess said. “And I applaud your House’s outlook toward such things.”

“Still ... many people enter this extreme of our lifestyle because they’re willing to trade service for being taken care of,” Margo said. “We won’t force them to become educated or trained – except in how to be of service. It would violate an unwritten contract between Dominant and submissive. It’s a fine line. Have you heard of, or worked with, the Karg?”

“Yes,” Chess replied, “both kinds. Well, I haven’t so much worked with the asshole variant of the Karg as tried to repair the human wreckage they leave in their wake. I have worked with some of Karghold Newton’s people.”

“Wonder how much longer it’ll have that name?” Kelly muttered.

“Why, what happened?” Chess asked.

“Oh, we have a story for you,” Margo replied.

Harry

He listened to Margo’s edited version of events in San Francisco, watching Chess.

Harry leaned over to Carol.

“She knows she isn’t getting the whole story, doesn’t she?” he murmured softly.

“Yeah, she knows. I get the feeling she also knows some parts of the story aren’t Margo’s to tell. I like her.”

“So do I.”

“Somehow though, I don’t think she’ll be moving in like Susan.”

“Probably not,” Harry chuckled. “I don’t think even a therapist nun could cope with this place. But we probably should make arrangements for her to have an office.”

“Already taken care of, love,” Carol replied.

Leaning back, paying only half his attention to Margo’s story, he thought on what Margo had told him before dinner.

His surgery had been pushed back one day. That night, he would belong to his concubines. The next evening, he’d belong to his spouses.

And then the surgery.

He smiled as Carol’s hand caressed his thigh, sliding down to cup his balls and... squeeze!

“What the fuck?” he hissed softly.

“You’re thinking about the surgery. Stop it.”

“Is it okay if I think about the drawbacks of being married to a hoodoo woman?”

“That’s perfectly acceptable.”

Anna

It had been too much to expect Margo’s issues with her to disappear completely, but Anna was impressed with the effort Margo was making.

As far as the rest of the ... family ... she didn’t think they had any major issues with her and her business. Not too surprising, seeing Carol was in the family. Anna wasn’t sure she quite believed the ... supernatural ... skills credited to her, but the little woman was amazingly perceptive, and her spouses clearly trusted her – and her opinions – implicitly.

But the Lutheran stick up Margo’s ass ... that resisted even Carol’s insights.

The dinner was such a pleasant social occasion, delightfully so, that Anna decided to put off the more serious issues she wanted to discuss with Margo and her family. But it would be a good idea to have Chess there when she did have that discussion. Maybe a larger gathering, at a neutral site.

So, no business that night. Just food, drink, good company ... and a tour of the ... mansion? Estate? Pleasure palace?

“Okay, House ... Wexler, did you say?”

“Yes.”

“House Wexler was some kinda paranoid,” Anna continued, as they walked down the corridor in the bunker.

“They had a lot to be paranoid about,” Kelly said. “Making kiddie porn is a big no-no.”

“And so they went to jail?” Anna asked.

“No,” Margo replied. “They were dealt with.”

“Dealt with?”

“If you had a problem with one of your employees, a serious problem, would you call the police, or would you handle it in-house?”

“Okay, so they were dealt with ... got it.”

“Yeah,” Kelly cackled, “they’re all on their knees in much older Houses in the area, learning the meaning of suffering.”

“So ... they’re being held against their will?” Anna said, amused.

“They were given a choice. That’s the choice they made,” Harry said.

Anna’s attention shifted to the murals on the walls.

“Lovely way to brighten this place up ... holy shit! Is that ‘Dinosaur Ho’?”

She rushed over and studied the wall.

“This is a very good copy ... as good as the series itself!”
“Should be,” Harry replied. “Perry and Bevy did the mural.”

“No way! You know Covell and Henslin?”

Harry laughed.

“Yeah, they work for our associate, Eddie Janak. Got one better for you...”

“He’s going to do it, isn’t he?” Margo said, dread in her voice.

“Yeah,” Carol replied gleefully.

“You remember the August storyline where the new girls were introduced?” Harry said.

“Uh, yeah ... that was when the series went from seriously sexy to oh-my-Gawd...” Anna replied.

“Ladies...”

Margo struck a pose, with Carol snugged up tight to her left side, Kelly to her right.

“Holy shit...”

“Yeah, we have the other girls in residence as well.”

“I don’t suppose you could...”

“Get them to autograph your copy of their book?” Margo said. “Not a problem.”

While it might have been somewhat shallow of her, Anna found her opinion of the Grimes family elevated more than a little.

“Although I’d warn you,” Harry said, “meeting Perry and Bevy is an ... experience.”

“Not necessarily for the faint of heart,” Kelly added.

“Or anyone with a loose grip on reality,” Carol finished.

They’d returned to the den for more coffee after the tour.

“So,” Anna said, “I hear through the grapevine there’s another wedding in your future?”

“Yes, yes there is,” Harry said. “Praise the Great Whatever, the four of us are finally tying the knot in February ... on Valentine’s Day, just for shits and giggles.”

“When is our marriage to take place, husband-to-be?” Jen Lan asked, a smirk on her lips.

“Shaddup you,” Harry replied, grinning. “Sometime after we get back from our honeymoon.” He turned back to Anna. “Eddie and Tamara, as well as Karen and Patricia are getting married same day. It’s gonna be a helluva Wednesday. Both of those brides were models for the August storyline as well.”

“Damn ... almost enough to make me want to rent a room here ... where are the four of you honeymooning?”

“Well, the four of us ... and staff ... will be spending five weeks at Silverlips, a lovely private island in the Caribbean.”

“And staff?” Anna asked.

“Yeah...” Margo replied. “We found out how ... dangerous ... it is to travel without some of our staff...”

“You mean Harry’s harem,” Kelly chuckled.

Anna’s eyebrow raised as Harry buried his face in his hands.

“Please don’t...” he moaned.

So Anna heard the story of Harry’s Hideaway – which they’d briefly visited on the tour – and the trouble New Year’s Eve with his harem.

Chess

It was a novel way to meet her future patients ... over dinner at their home ... but it worked. Not that she was all that fond of an office environment. It might be necessary to create a ‘safe space’ for consultation, but sometimes it seemed as much a burden as a boon.

“Harry, why do you have so much trouble with the whole ‘harem’ thing?” she asked, scarcely realizing she was going to ask the question before it was leaving her mouth.

Well, too late to take it back.

Harry motioned one of the staff over and ordered a drink.

“Chess, you ever read any porn?”

“Harry!” Margo said.

To chuckles from everyone else, Chess replied, “I’m a nun, I’m not dead. Yes, I’ve read some erotica in my time...”

“No, Chess, not erotica ... except possibly in the most loose sense of the word. I mean ‘porn’.”

“What do you see as the difference?” Chess asked.

Harry sat back and thought on that for a moment.

“Chess, in my opinion, the biggest difference is this. Both are roads to an orgasm. Erotica is the slow and scenic trip through the park, by the waterfront, up into the hills for a stunning view of the city at night, and then to the orgasm for a nightcap and romantic music.

“Porn is a Detroit heavy-metal muscle car running the quarter mile and the orgasm is the finish line.”

“Okay, so stipulated. Your point?”

“It is a common theme in porn that the invariably big-dicked hero does little more than wave his magic cock around, and there are women falling all over him, pledging their bodies and souls to him for just the chance to in some way interact with the magic cock. They become his harem, and they all live happily ever after with nothing but non-stop sex to fill their time.

“I cannot hear ‘harem’ without viewing it through that lens.”

“What about the historical definition of ‘harem’?”

Harry shook his head.

“Scarcely better, if better at all.

“Look, lemme tell you a story...”

“ ... so, the final member of my...” Harry grit his teeth, “harem ... is Nadereh, a gift from her trainers to us at the party. She was re-gifted, kindasorta, as a part of a Christmas gift to me from my spouses.”

Over the course of the story of Harry’s journey from sick and lonely in the middle of a separation to where he was now, Chess had been introduced to a lot of people who’d been summoned to the den as the story progressed.