Chapter 24

We decided a vacation was in order, and I took them to my old haunt in the south of France. They were a little selfconscious at first, wearing nothing but a thong in their current condition, but got over it quickly when they noticed the admiring looks from most of the men and a lot of the women on the beach.

To quote Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again. The Goddess appeared, rising again from the sea. As she got closer and recognized me, her smile was radient. I was shocked by her appearance. The three years since I'd seen her had not been kind to her. There were bags under her eyes, she had a bit of a tummy roll, and her breasts sagged noticable. But the Goddess was still in there, I could see it in her eyes.

"Goddess," I said, taking her hand and kissing it. I had used the voice of the Wizard, who hadn't made an appearance in a couple of years. The girls went wide eyed. I motioned them close. "Goddess, I present my wives, Cathy and Tory. You don't know it, but you had a role in bringing us together, and I'll always be thankful."

Her eyes grew thoughtful. She shook their hands, smiling. "Congratulations. I experienced once what you must experience on a regular basis, years ago. You are very lucky women. I've often wondered over the years what became of him. I knew he was never destined to be ordinary, and I see I was right."

The girls took to her immediately, after our history was explained. I sat, watching them chat, smiling with pleasure. She came to dinner at their invitation, looking exquisite in her gown. There was an air of sadness about her, the reasons becoming clear over an after dinner drink for us, juice for my girls. They often complained about how I treated them. "We're not made of glass, honey, we'll be fine." I always explained they more like precious china, and couldn'd be replaced if they were broken. They'd giggle and quit complaining, for a little while.

The Goddess, it seemed, was the victim of a totally collapsed economy and a man who made poor business decisions. "He made some bad investments, and realized we were facing facial ruin. He gathered as many liquid assets as he could and disappeared. He's left me practically destitute. I have to sell my family home, the villa we've owned for centuries, to absolve my debts. There will be enough left over to live modestly for a few years, but my future looks bleak. I'm sorry to burden you, but I really needed to talk. Thank you for a lovely evening."

After we returned from escorting her back to her room, the girls started. "We have to help her." It wasn't a request from Tory, it was an order. Cathy was nodding her head.

"She's a proud woman, honies, I don't know if she would accept a handout." They just smiled.

"Oh, leave it to us, we'll have it sorted in no time."

The next thing I knew, we were in a bigger suite and The Goddess was living with us. "She's here to help us, honey. We're considering investing in some Greek real estate."