Chapter 9

What a completely fucked up Christmas Day! How could he be so close to the game afoot and make such a boneheaded move to jump to the wrong conclusions?

Once the Limo was moving April spoke up to say, “I hate him! I never want to be around him again! He is a complete hypocritical jerk! Mom is going to take him for everything he is worth for the crap he pulled today. Enough is enough!”

Karen tried to calm her down, but it was no use. April was spitting mad at her father. I could only guess that it was something that happened after we left. I could not really understand anything else she was saying through the mixture of unintelligible sobbing screams and whines. She was really on a rant. I was sure that eventually I would find out what the hell was going on, just not anytime soon.

Surprisingly the trip to Robert’s house was quicker than I would have thought. He was waiting at the door when we arrived to welcome us all with open arms.

“Sonya,” he said as he pulled her into a hug.

When Nika hugged him, he gave her back as well as he got before putting her at arm’s length to look at her.

She smiled at this attention as he said, “About time you finally started to look like the amazing young woman I was told you have become. Why wasn’t I told you were in town? Come in out of the cold.”

Well that is a surprise! They obviously know him very well. I don’t even get a hug like that from them.

Robert asked April and Jill to take the girls upstairs to visit with his wife. We were going to have a man to man chat in his study.

Once I was seated, with a very old scotch, Robert spoke. I listened.

“Joe, you have managed to do what I was never able to accomplish with any of my hard-headed children,” he began. “If not for the recounts from my daughter in law and two sons, I would never have believed what I was told. Of my children, Paul has always been the most conniving, self-serving, hard-headed and ambitious. Had he learned to think through the ramifications of his actions, none of my other children would have gotten any aspirations of one day taking my place at the helm. Tonight, you put him in his place, in his own study and within earshot of those who would cause him the most grief. He failed to consider the repercussions of his scheme and couldn’t see past his oversized ego to properly evaluate his assumptions. Tearing into him like you did was only sufficient to place you at a slight advantage in his eyes and one he would seek to nullify as quickly as possible. No, what put him in his place was your sexually pleasuring his wife so completely. She has frequently reminded him of his inadequacy in that arena since he took over the company. His shortsighted drive to achieve his own goals made him believe she fully accepted his dalliances with the coeds.”

At that he was silent as we enjoyed our scotch.

After a while I finally couldn’t contain my curiosity and asked, “How is it you know the beautiful Russian gymnast friends that accompanied me today?”

The old man choked a bit on his scotch and took a few seconds to recover. When he recovered he spent a while explaining that he was good friends with the group of men that had been sponsoring them since Russia pulled back their funding. When times had been tough for the team, he made it known that he had plenty of room in his home. It was here for them any time they needed a home cooked meal or place to stay where they could disappear for a while. It seems that such a time happened about four years ago. Both girls stayed here with him and his wife for three months. Tatyana and Sasha stayed elsewhere, but would come from time to time to make sure they were keeping up with their training. Both girls were better behaved than any of his own children or grandchildren. They really appreciated even the smallest of things he did for them.

“I was taken completely by surprise when I was told that you were on your way here with two stunning young Russian girls. You have a way about you that causes the truly needy and desperate girls to seek you out so you can give them the help they don’t always know they need. I seek your forgiveness for jumping to the conclusion you had rescued two young Russian girls from the local sex trade. Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed you knew these two precious young women. Those who are very dear to my heart,” he explained. “Please explain how it is that you came to know them.”

While we worked on another scotch, I told him the story about how I met Tatyana and the girls during my first ever real vacation after college. I left out any sexual details and glossed over the various problems from that time. I needn’t have worried about trusting him with that sensitive information. He already knew every single bit of it, just not that I was the man that had been with them all those years ago.

He excused himself to go tell his wife.

I wonder what shit I am going to get into with her now. Fuck! Are they going to call the cops on me? They have no further use for me! Paul is disgraced in front of everyone in the family. Replacing him no longer requires the plans they had made not all that long ago. At least it was the best sex I have ever had in my life, so whatever happens to me in jail, it was worth it!

I was worried when I saw the smile on his face. He was very thrilled about something, yet his face was too hard to read.

Downing his scotch in one gulp he told me excitedly, “Joe, my dearest wife wanted me to let you know that you have given her the best Christmas present she has gotten in decades. She would tell you herself, but she is currently on the phone with Paul having a very serious discussion about his mistreatment of Nika and Sonya. All my children are aware of these two sweet young women being rated higher in her heart than any of her children or grandchildren, save Jill and Ariel now that they are back in our lives. I never needed her to say anything for it to be known these wonderful Russian girls are loved by her even more than I. You see, my wife has never had the need for physical punishment with respect to our children. She inherited a very sharp tongue from her mother and both of her grandmothers. Whenever it was time to face the music for their misdeeds, they would plead to have me tear into them with my belt as they attempted to garner some sympathy with their tears of pain. All that ever accomplished was to make her even angrier. Paul is going to be hearing the errors of his ways for his accusations. If I know her, she will start with that and let him believe his torment will be over quickly. Before he will have any chance to plead his case, she will switch over to his now admitted mistreatment Jill and Ariel. Sometime in the early morning he will be crying exactly as he did as a young boy. She doesn’t tolerate anyone disrespecting her friends or doing something which could cause harm to their reputation.”

He was going to continue, but we were interrupted by two fast moving masses that were on me before I was even able to put down my drink. Someone took it from me as I tried to recover from squirming masses in my lap.

What is this? It is not April or Jill. They are way too big to move up on me so quickly and silently. They also know the fate that awaits them for busting uninvited into Robert’s study.

When I was finally able to see who held me as tightly as they could, I saw Nan and Fran. Both were glowing even in the dim light of Robert’s study. There was no question they were now very well fed and extremely healthy. Turning to the side I saw Nina standing there with a huge grin.

“Sorry Mr. Stephens,” she said addressing him as a friend. “They went upstairs to thank your wife again for the presents they found in their rooms after doing their chores. As soon as they heard Joe was down here in your study, no force on Earth was going to stop them from coming to see him. With all the care and feeding they have had in your home, both are now faster than I have ever been.”

Robert had a real, all the way to his eyes, smile as he said, “Nina. You know that my study is off limits to you and your sisters unless you are cleaning. Given the circumstances, and today being Christmas, I will permit their ignoring the rules this once. I must have your word that you won’t leave them alone with Joe while he is a guest in my house today. It just will not do and you know why.”

“Yes sir,” Nina replied as she was finally able to detach the two girls from my body by whispering something in their ears.

Turning to me with a serious look he told me, “Joe. If Ariel doesn’t want to take her rightful place as the head of the family business and should Karen not feel cut out for the task, it will fall to Nina and her sisters. In my arrogance I believed Nina to be nothing more than some stray brought home to prepare me for my wife’s needs in the bedroom. It was a huge miscalculation on my part. I realized now I must be getting old.”

We both laughed to his joke at his expense.

“All three of those darling girls are like sponges. Nina already has a full understanding of basic business and account details for the company from reading the reports around my office when she moved them to dust, and properly categorize them properly for my consumption. Overhearing conversations allowed her to visualize the entire supply and distribution systems without even knowing exactly how it works, or why. Her sisters absorb information even faster. Both have blossomed under my wife’s supervision. I swear they are closer to the children we desired, when starting a family, than of those we had. We can’t deny them anything unless it can cause any of us harm. I wouldn’t have ever put a stop to their desires to intimately show their gratitude to you this evening. Unfortunately, I am aware of unwanted eyes and ears seeking anything of interest to report back to Paul. The only safe location where we aren’t spied upon is here in my office and children aren’t permitted in my office except when cleaning while I am not present,” he explained. “You needn’t worry. I’m told that a collection or two is required this evening to continue with the project at hand. As beneficial as it might be to proceed naturally, having a conception date within weeks of any of your visits at my home would be greatly problematic. Please accept my offer to remain here with your guests for Christmas Dinner. It is very bad form to promise two young ladies a home cooked holiday meal and not deliver.”

We took our time making it to the dining room for a second pass at Christmas Dinner. It was nearly an exact mirror of the meal prepared at Paul’s house.

Duh Joe! Family traditions! Just because your family doesn’t have them is no reason to think no one else has them.

We made it through dinner and were letting our stomach settle before dessert when Paul came bursting into the house in an uproar.

Shit! Can’t I have any peace for this self-important asshole?

“Merry Christmas Paul. We are just finishing dinner. Would you care to join us for dessert,” Robert asked very calmly in a way that made Paul stop dead in his tracks. “You really didn’t need to make the trek over here in the bitter cold to show us how pitifully we failed teaching you proper etiquette and manners. Your mother is perfectly happy to resume discussing matters with you over the phone after we finish desert, though if you prefer she would much rather discuss matters in person.”

He was at the point of being spitting mad and yelled, “Why is HE here with my daughters? Do you know what he did to April today?”

“Would that be disciplining April in a manner appropriate to her disrespectful behavior? Correcting bad behaviors that my completely ineffective, borderline sexually deviant, son hasn’t been able to do even once in fourteen years,” he asked with venom in his old voice. “Or was something excluded from the family gossip party line?”

Damn! I never expected something like that out of Robert, at least not with women and girls present.

Even redder in the face, Paul bellowed out, “Don’t attempt to appear senile to me father! He blatantly used her fear of him to kidnap her from my house to finish the sexual assault on her that he began at my house. He already forced my wife to allow him to do with her as he wished.”

Before either man could respond, Robert’s wife turned to me to ask, “Joe I hadn’t heard you were intimate with my daughter in law. Is that true?”

“After April had been punished, I was commended by your daughter in law for giving the discipline that was long overdue. I won’t comment on any possible intimate contact which may have transpired. Even one such as myself, who is shunned by most people, can be a gentleman. Anything she wishes to divulge I will never contest. My father raised me to never call another man’s wife a liar,” I told her.

To Paul I said, “You have no rights to become indignant regarding any sexual congresses your wife may choose to engage in after telling her to sleep with the pool boy like your neighbors. I can’t understand why you would ever stray to the teenyboppers that frequent your club over your very beautiful wife. Any woman who would remain married to you deserves to be submitted for sainthood.”

I don’t think he even heard me.

“Father how can you sit here and defend his actions when he flat out forced my daughter to leave my house with him,” Paul demanded to know.

Robert just turned his back on him and headed back to the table to take another drink of his brandy. Paul had at least enough sense to wait until his father was ready to answer his question. It took at least ten minutes before Robert stood again.

“Is Karen not also your daughter? Doesn’t she reside in the maid quarters within these walls with your full consent? Do her sisters not frequently escape your intolerable presence to stay here as her guests on a very regular basis? When you were a child you jumped to conclusions without having the supporting details as a justification for your anger. I see you still are making the same childish mistakes,” Robert told him. “Karen telephoned your mother to request permission for April to stay in our home this evening on your sister’s behalf. It seems April has no desire to be in your presence after the ass you made of yourself in front of Joe and his two guests. I sent a car to fetch Jill and Karen. Joe was invited to ride along with his guests to meet us in person. I refused to permit my family name from being tarnished by my son after the deplorable ways you continue to torment your sister’s daughter and granddaughter. It was my responsibility as head of the family to clear the air with Joe in person. I will forever be shamed for allowing myself to be tricked into taking the actions against your sister which placed these two innocent children in the crossfire. Joe behaved himself honorably when he was caring for Ariel. Many men and boys would have exploited Ariel’s period of healing for their own pleasure. Through my blind actions I have caused him to lose fourteen years with his daughter. Now that the truth has surfaced regarding your manipulations, I felt it was only proper to personally make amends with this young man in person for the wrongs I have done against him in the past that contributed to his being robbed of being a father. With great shame, I had to admit it was my fault you were ever permitted to make it out of childhood behaving in such a manner.”

Paul stood there looking like a puppy being scolded for having bitten down on your leg.

Ariel chose a less verbal way to show Paul exactly how she felt about what he did to her and her mother. She reached way back behind her shoulder, turning backwards around on her hips, to get a good, full powered right cross going towards his jaw. He saw it coming way too late to avoid it, not that he was in shape anymore to have done anything to stop it. At the least second she opened her hand to slap him square across the face. Before his brain was even registering the pain in his face, her left knee was hitting him in the nuts, causing him to crouch down to protect himself.