Chapter 49: A Diagnosis

January 7, 1991, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Mario and I had agreed we’d have breakfast in the hotel restaurant on Monday morning. He was waiting at a table when I came downstairs.

“Steve, I am SO sorry,” he said before we even said ‘hello’.

“I heard you and Marie had a heated conversation about it,” I said with a smile.

“How the heck do you know that?”

“I have my ways,” I grinned.

“Tara,” he said.

“She showed up at the hotel yesterday afternoon to apologize for Marie. The last thing she said to me was to go easy on you.”

“Are you going to take that advice?” he asked nervously. “Or is this the end of the line? Like with Casey?”

He was referring to Casey Russell, the programmer I’d fired early on for violating my privacy. I hadn’t thought about firing Mario even for a second, but the parallel was there, at least in a general sort of way.

“I wasn’t going to fire you, Mario,” I said. “Look, I’m sure what you told Marie was information that’s essentially public and that she used it in a way she shouldn’t have.”

“She and her sister have been like cats and dogs since I met her. I guess it’s been like that since they were little.”

“I know what you’re wondering now, and to be blunt, whether I slept with Tara or not isn’t any of your business, nor any of Marie’s business. I’ll put this behind us, but it cannot happen again.”

“I already made that clear to Marie. Steve, truthfully, all I did was tell her about your family when she asked. It wasn’t anything more than just a basic outline of you being married to Jessica and Kara and having a bunch of kids by different women. When I bought the tickets and we needed a fourth, it was Marie who suggested Tara, and I guess she hatched her plan.”

“I get it,” I replied. “Sibling rivalry and all that. Just learn from this, and let’s move forward.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Any changes to the schedule you sent me last week?”

“No. McCarthy/Jenkins and Cohen, Meyer, and Schmidt this morning. Lunch with the team. Jacoby and Associates this afternoon. Your flight is still at 5:30pm?”

“Yes.”

We ordered and ate breakfast, and Mario filled me in on the clients we were seeing. I paid the bill, checked out of the hotel, and we headed for our first meeting. All the meetings went well, and I was at the airport on time for my flight home.

January 7, 1991, Chicago, Illinois

“How was the trip?” Kara asked when I exited the terminal.

“Productive,” I replied. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

We kissed and started walking towards short-term parking.

“How is Katy?”

“She’s exactly where she belongs,” I said. “She was relaxed and relatively happy. She’s a bit lonely, but I think once she gets the business going, that’ll change pretty quickly.”

“Everything went well in that regard?”

“The place is gorgeous! She insisted we be her first guests in March. I was thinking we could take a three-day weekend, but that would mean flying and not bringing the kids. Or not bringing all of them, anyway.”

“We’re taking the kids to the UP. We could have a three-day vacation for just the three of us. I’ll need to get someone to cover my Friday or Monday class to do that, and Jess will have to get someone to cover her shift.”

“Let’s see if we can work that out. Katy suggested the weekend of the 16th and 17th. She’ll let us know if that’s going to work by the end of the month. She’ll actually open on the 22nd. We’ll be her guinea pigs.”

“Let me talk to Jess and figure out if Friday or Monday is better for both of us and then we can let Katy know. I’m guessing because she was lonely...”

“Not the first night. We just cuddled in bed.”

“But Friday night?” Kara smirked.

“Yes. But there was something odd about it that I can’t quite put my finger on.”

“How so?”

“I’m not sure. It just seemed different.”

“Do you think she’s going to give up on guys? That she went for her ‘last screw’, so to speak?” Kara asked.

“That could well be it. And it would explain something.”

“Can you tell me? Wifely privilege.”

I chuckled, “You had to invoke that, didn’t you? Katy offered something that was very out of character for her.”

“Anal?”

“Yes. Exactly. But it was more of ‘if you want to’ than her actually wanting to. Or so I thought until just now. I turned her down because the idea of her ‘letting’ me do it just didn’t seem right. But now that I’ve had three days to think about it, I wonder. Maybe you’re right, and she saw this as the last time it could happen. But I still think it would have been a bad idea.”

“You are SO careful with stuff like that. But you sometimes take that care a bit too far. Not everyone can clearly state what they want, in explicit terms.”

“Blame Bethany,” I said. “That policy has served me well. So I think I’ll continue with my heavy dose of caution.”

We got to the car, Kara handed me the keys, and I got into the driver’s seat.

“How was Pittsburgh?”

“The meetings today went really well. I told you about the game and about yesterday when I talked to you Saturday and Sunday nights.”

“I’m glad you weren’t too upset with Mario. He’s a really nice guy, and he’s been with you almost from the start.”

“It was his girlfriend that was the real problem,” I said. “And as I told you and Jess last night, her little sister was really sweet. There was something about Marie that just rubbed me the wrong way, but she’s not my girlfriend, so it’s not really my problem. Well, as long as she keeps her mouth shut.”

“But wasn’t it just to mess with her little sister? I mean, if you think about it, it could have been very entertaining!”

“Maybe, but I’m not a stage performer trying to please an audience! And what if her sister had been hurt by the whole thing? Fortunately, she was a good sport about it, and it turned out OK in the end. It could have gone horribly wrong.”

“Could it? You follow clear rules, and that prevented it from getting out of hand.”

“But Marie didn’t know that! She made the assumption that I COULD fool around with her sister and tried to set it up with the hope that it would embarrass Tara. Or hurt her. Or something.”

“When you look at it that way, I can see your point,” Kara said. “Is Tara someone you would want for one of your dalliances?”

“I have to consider the NIKA connection. It’s tenuous, but it’s there. Marie is Mario’s girlfriend, and Tara is Marie’s sister.”

“I think that might be enough degrees of separation, but you almost always choose the side of caution since the whole Thanksgiving weekend debacle two years ago.”

“I’ll talk to Elyse about it,” I said. “How were things at home?”

“Your Pumpkin missed you a lot. The other kids missed you, too, but not like Birgit. She really has a need for ‘Daddy time’.”

“I’ve noticed. How is Jess doing?”

“Fine. Why?”

“I was just seeking a female opinion. I think she’s doing fine, but I’m a ‘man’, so what do I know?”

Kara laughed, “You know I only say that to get your goat! But I’d say she’s very happy with how things are going.”

“And you?”

“I told you years ago what I wanted, and I have it. Of course I’m happy! Are you?”

I nodded, “Yes. I have everything I could possibly want in this world except grandkids, and I’d say with seven kids, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue!”

Kara laughed, “No, it shouldn’t. I do have a question for you, though.”

“And what’s that?”

“Tonight, could I have your big dick in my tight little pussy, my sexy mouth, and deep in my cute little ass?” she purred.

I laughed hard and gripped the steering wheel tightly to stay in my lane.

“You haven’t said that in years! I was only gone four nights, and you had Jess!”

“She doesn’t have a dick, Snuggle Bear! In case you hadn’t noticed!”

“Oh, I’ve noticed! If you get that tonight, what about her?”

“She wants the same thing on Wednesday night! She’d prefer tomorrow, but she doesn’t want to take away your time with Elyse.”

“You two are crazy!”

“Crazy in love with you,” Kara sighed.

January 8, 1991, Chicago, Illinois

“Thank you,” Cindi said from the door of my office.

“For?” I asked.

She walked in and shut the door behind her.

“Not firing Mario. We both thought you might do that.”

I shook my head, “I never even thought about it until he raised his concern on Monday morning. When did you talk?”

“Saturday night. He called me as soon as he arrived home. He was pretty upset and very concerned. We both remembered what happened with Casey Russell.”

“Different circumstances. Unfortunately, in this case, Mario’s girlfriend let him down. I guess he assumed, as I would have, that a woman close to finishing her PhD in applied mathematics, focusing on cryptography, would be a bit more mature and a bit more circumspect.”

“Siblings make us do the craziest things. YOU have a sister!”

I nodded, “I do. I told Mario to forget about it but never let it happen again. I tried to send as clear of a message as possible. I guess he and Marie had a chat about it.”

“Chat? If he’s telling me the truth, he read her the Riot Act and told her in no uncertain terms that doing anything like that again would be the end.”

“I suspect he is telling you the truth. Marie’s little sister actually came by on Sunday to apologize and told me that Mario and Marie had a heated discussion on the way home from the Penguins game.”

“Well, I’m grateful that it turned out the way it did. I was truly worried. I almost called you on Sunday to try to talk you out of it, but decided, in the end, you would make your own decision. Now I’m glad I didn’t call.”

“You know you can always talk to me,” I said. “How are you doing?”

Cindi’s lip curled into a sardonic smile, “For the first time in my life, I complained to someone about my tits being too big! I had to buy new bras! Chris was amused.”

I laughed, “I certainly am! I would never expect Cindi Eggert to bitch about the size of her breasts!”

“Yeah, well, this body ain’t worth flaunting right about now. Not at seven months!”

“I think you’re just as sexy as the day I met you,” I said.

“You have a thing for pregnant women, don’t you? I suppose that’s a good thing because someone in your house is pretty much always pregnant!”

“This is the end of the line,” I said. “Once Jess has her baby, we’re all done.”

“I thought it was ‘Eight is Enough’!”

“Seven will do quite nicely, thanks. Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”

Cindi smirked, “Believe it or not, being pregnant has made me hornier!”

“How is that even possible?” I chuckled.

“I have no idea! Chris is a bit uncomfortable with the idea, but I think I can understand that, given the size of my stomach. It does require a bit of a contortionist act!”

“Too much information! Now, I have work to do, so if you don’t mind taking that sexy body out of this office, I’d appreciate it!”

“Thanks again, Steve. One quick thing. I handed in the forms to Elyse for hiring a salesperson and an on-site support person.”

“Sounds good. Once she’s run the numbers, I’m sure she’ll bring me the forms.”

Cindi left, and I got started on the paperwork and messages that had piled up since the previous Thursday. Unfortunately, between that and a meeting with Dave, Zo, and the team on the beta release that was going out on Friday, it occupied my entire day. Jessica was ready on time, so I walked from the office to the hospital to meet her.

“How was your day?” I asked.

“Lousy. It was another one of those days when it seemed like everyone we worked on died. We were oh-for-three.”

“What happened?”

“Two from the same traffic accident and one construction accident.”

“How are you holding up?”

“OK, I guess. It just wears on you.”

I took her hand, and we walked home. After dinner, karate, and showers, we spent some time with the kids, then watched CNN to catch up on the news. There was still a headlong rush towards war with Iraq, and it didn’t seem as if anything would change before the deadline that was a week away.

Once we’d given CNN thirty minutes and they’d given us the world, I kissed my wives, then went up to bed with Elyse.

“Do you ever wonder why we didn’t come up with pet names for each other?” I asked after we made love.

“Because it never suited our relationship,” she said. “We were never ‘lovey-dovey’. It was always just kind of there, if you know what I mean.”

“I’m not sure. By ‘there’, do you mean we kind of skipped over the romance? I seem to recall some romantic bubble baths and cuddling in the bay windows of the apartment.”

Elyse smiled, “I remember. But back then, you really only had a pet name for Bethany. Then you had one for Stephie. I think the way our relationship developed kind of precluded that.”

“Is that a bad thing?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. What got you on this line of thinking?”

“Something Doctor Green said. And Kara and I talked about. Just that, given your role in my life, it got Kara and me wondering.”

Elyse propped herself up to look me in the eyes.

“I am VERY happy with how things turned out! There is no need to second guess everything!”

“It’s not so much ‘second guessing’ as it is self-examination.”

“You are still overthinking things in a lot of instances. Sometimes, things really are as simple as they seem!”

“I do have that tendency, don’t I? And speaking of overthinking, what were your thoughts on the girl in Pittsburgh?”

“How many degrees of separation are necessary?” she asked.

“I suppose that’s a way to put it. That whole ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ idea is pretty cool. Just how far do I take it?”

“Let’s assume Mario and Marie were married. It would be the sister-in-law of an employee. That seems like ‘family’ by any definition. Do you agree?”

“I think that’s true, yes. I’ll consider Ed family if my sister marries him.”

“Precisely. Once it gets to cousins, I think you can safely say they aren’t ‘family’ for the purpose of the rules we established. In this specific case, Mario and Marie are just dating, right? Not engaged?”

“Right,” I agreed.

“Then it’s a judgment call, just as you thought. I would compare it to your deal with Cindi. It probably would have been fine with you before she got engaged; it most certainly wasn’t after.”

“If I apply my current rule about relationships, it wouldn’t have been OK before. I was a bit more flexible with the rule back when we made the deal, but by the time we would have consummated it, my thinking had evolved.”