Chapter 51: An Addition to the Family?

May 2, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

“Hi, Pam!” I said when Bethany and I walked into Luke’s.

Bethany and I each exchanged a quick hug with Pam, then we went to the counter to place our orders.

“You look good,” I said.

“Ever hear of an exercise system called Pilates?”

“No.”

“It’s sweeping the West Coast, but it was invented by a German guy. I got into it when we were in Germany. You both look really good!”

“Karate and running,” I said. “Though I’m losing my running partner.”

“Gym three times a week for me,” Bethany added, “and I heard about Gina! That was a shock!”

I chuckled, “Baby number two, which was kind of unplanned but not unwanted. So she decided to move to Rush/St. Luke’s to be closer to home. Once Bo bought the new townhouse I was pretty sure that was going to happen.”

“Who’s Gina?” Pam asked.

“Sorry for the shop talk! She’s in internal medicine at UofC and is Jessica’s closest doctor friend. She and her husband are also now close family friends. She and I started running because she needed a friend who wasn’t going to try to get her into bed.”

Pam laughed, “And they chose YOU?!”

“He does have self-control,” Bethany smirked. “At times, anyway!”

“Do I need to remind the two of you about this one weekend in Madison?” I smirked.

“No!” they both said very quickly.

“So your husband was one of your boy toys?” I asked.

“Bethany met him, though she probably doesn’t remember him, even though he’s from the same part of Ohio you are.”

“Oh?”

“Close,” Bethany said. “About an hour out Route 50, I think.”

“So what happened?”

“Well, you know how I was as a Freshman, right?”

I nodded, “About like you were in Sweden, but with the governor removed!”

“Interesting way to put it, but yes. Anyway I was his first and showed him everything you taught me and then some! But it was one of those booze-filled weekends. He moved on and I moved on. Then not long after graduation I was flying out to Seattle to see a friend of mine from back home and Dale ended up in the seat next to me. It was a bit awkward at first.”

I chuckled, “I can imagine.”

“By the end of the flight, I accepted a date. We went out; I hung out with my friend for a few more days, then flew home. The next day I got three dozen roses. He flew out to see me the following week and here we are, married with two kids, totally domesticated! I guess we both got it out of our systems in college.”

“What are you doing in town?”

“Dale is in town for a meeting. I brought the kids to see Grandma and Grandpa. They drove down last night, and the kids are with them so I could join you for lunch. I wanted to bring Dale, but he’s tied up all day.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s a program manager on the 737NG program. That’s a new version of the 737 which will come off the production lines starting around the end of the year. It’s a plane that will compete with the Airbus A320.”

“Most of my flights are on MD-80s,” I said. “But I mostly fly American Airlines or their partners because of the miles.”

“You fly a lot?”

“Yes, including a trip to Australia, Singapore, and Japan, which followed a longer trip to Japan and a trip to Europe. The first one was work, the second was karate, and the other one was work. And the family has traveled quite a bit, too.”

“He’s a karate instructor now,” Bethany added.

Our food order was up, and we went to the counter to get it, then carried our trays to a table.

“I read your book on the plane on the way here,” Pam said to Bethany. “I knew most of what you wrote from our talks, but it was really powerful stuff. One of my cousins was raped and I’m going to send her a copy if she doesn’t already have one. I was shocked by the intro and why your center is named for who it is.”

“Well, he’s explaining it all to whichever god he happened to run into in the afterlife,” I said. “Governor Edgar has no qualms about signing execution warrants.”

“I thought you opposed the death penalty!” Pam said.

I nodded, “I do. I’d have done what the reporter who covered the announcement of Bethany’s appointment as director of the new center’s brother did. He killed the bastard who raped his daughter. But in this case, Missy Easton had nobody to speak for her or kill the motherfucker.”

“Don’t ever hurt anyone Steve loves,” Bethany said. “You won’t live.”

“And you accept this?”

Bethany smiled wanly, “As if I, or anyone could stop him if something like that happened to one of his kids. And I don’t know that I’d want to.”

“When Nick was murdered, I opposed the death penalty for his killer,” I said. “As I said to Karl back then, and others since, if that sailor was to be put to death, it was going to be by me or one of Nick’s friends. No hoods. No shields. Just my hands, or someone else’s, around his throat while we looked him in the eyes as the life ran out of his body.”

“I’m not sure what to say to that!”

I smiled, “There is very little chance it will ever get that far. You saw how I handled Gene!”

Pam nodded, “God, what a wimp and a jerk! I never understood what Bethany saw in him!”

“Ancient history,” Bethany said. “My relationship choices were pretty poor with a few exceptions, one of which is sitting next to me!”

“My only regret is we didn’t live closer together in Sweden!” Pam laughed. “Pia and Katt more or less monopolized him!”

“I wasn’t in Sweden to hang out with Americans!”

“Well, fortunately your friend Trevor wanted to be with Maria! That let me add my v-card to your collection!”

“Your what?” I asked.

“I keep forgetting I’m in the Midwest! Virgin card. It’s virtual, obviously. You have it until you lose yours and then you give it to someone who gets to keep it. You’re a card collector!”

I chuckled, “Sounds like baseball cards!”

“So, rookie cards?” Bethany laughed. “I love it! Mr. Adams has a near-complete set!”

“I do not!” I chuckled. “I may have far more than my appropriate share, but I didn’t get what Pam calls a V-card from EVERY girl I know, let alone the complete set!”

“I was your first ‘Mile High Club’!”

I nodded, “But the NEXT time was two different girls on a Gulfstream!”

“You are incorrigible!” Pam laughed. “Your wives let you play around?”

“That was part of the agreement!” Bethany smirked, her eyes twinkling.

“You?!” Pam gasped.

“Before Nick, and then after Nick but before Tommy. You know how much he’s always helped me. I needed him, and his wives were gracious enough to allow it.”

“But now?”

“I don’t cheat,” Bethany said firmly. “And he won’t help someone cheat. He and Tom have become good friends.”

“Do we get to meet this husband of yours?” I asked.

“Not on this trip, unfortunately. As soon as Dale is done with his meetings we’re headed to Eau Claire for a three-day weekend.”

“If you’re in town again, let’s try to get together. You guys can come to the house. We’re still in the same one.”

“Cool!”

We finished our lunches and Bethany and I walked Pam back to the Marriott, then back to the NIKA office where Bethany had parked her car. After a quick hug, she drove back to Hyde Park, and I went into the office.

May 3, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

“Happy Birthday, Babe!” I said, coming into the bedroom when I arrived home from the office.

“Join us, Tiger!” Jessica commanded. “We started without you!”

“Clearly,” I grinned, quickly stripping off my clothes and climbing into bed.

“I just got her warmed up!” Kara smirked. “Let’s give her a full workout before dinner!”

“It’s been a long time since I watched you two make love,” I replied.

“Later!” Jessica hissed. “I need you BOTH! NOW!”

Jessica’s favorite position, at least recently, was reverse cowgirl, which allowed Kara to use her tongue and lips in VERY pleasurable ways for both Jessica and me. Jessica leaned back far enough so I could tease her nipples with my thumbs and very quickly had the first of a series of orgasms, the last of which was crushing, and the tight squeeze of her muscles and the flick of Kara’s tongue caused me to explode. When the last pulse left me, Jessica moved so that I popped free, and Kara quickly engulfed me to clean the joint juices from my shaft, then shoved her tongue deep into Jessica and brought her off once more.

“That was perfect,” Jessica sighed as Kara and I cuddled close on either side of her.

“I have to say I like that position a lot as well,” I grinned.

“He STILL likes just simple, sweet lovemaking best,” Kara said. “And there is something to that!”

“You’ve had him for that for nearly a year!” Jessica said. “My schedule required more, well, frantic activities that had to involve all three of us!”

“It didn’t have to,” Kara said quietly.

“Yes it did,” Jessica replied firmly. “We had to be a trio. NOW, I think we can be doing a bit more couple coupling!”

“You and me, too?!” Kara asked expectantly.

“We sure as heck aren’t going shopping for our time together this Summer!” Jessica declared.

“We’re going to need that governess for sure!” Kara sighed happily.

“Shall we shower and head to Italian Village?” I asked. “We don’t want to be late.”

“As if Kathy, Bethany, and Samantha can’t guess what we would be doing to make us late!”

“Let’s not be rude,” I said firmly. “None of us has to be up early tomorrow!”

“Says the man who will have a search and rescue party called out if he misses cuddle time!”

“Search yes,” I chuckled. “But it’s Birgit I’ll need rescuing from! I’ll just tell her I need to make love to her moms all night and she’ll giggle and accept it. She’ll get ‘make up’ cuddles later. I just have to avoid Ashley’s cuddle time which she likes right before bed. We need to get up!”

My wives reluctantly got out of bed and the three of us went to the shower, with all of us helping wash each other. When we finished our shower, we dried off, dressed, said goodbye to the kids and the babysitter, then headed to the city to meet our friends.

“Just think how much trouble THIS group could get into,” Kathy smirked when we joined the others in the lobby of Italian Village.

“I’m not sure I’d survive,” Tom laughed. “Firefighter training never prepared me for THIS crowd!”

“Don’t embarrass the children!” Kara teased, looking to Samantha and Brian.

“Ignore Kathy,” Bethany replied. “She’s been a troublemaker since I first met her in sixth grade!”

“Oh and you have room to talk?” Kathy teased.

“Tom,” Kurt said, shaking his head, “I’m not sure if we should be glad we didn’t know them back then, or be jealous of our friend here.”

“The heartache was brutal,” I said.

“It was,” Kathy agreed.

“Definitely,” Bethany said soberly. “So much bad stuff happened along with the good stuff.”

“We’re all past that now!” Kara said. “Let’s not spoil Jessica’s birthday!”

“Not possible!” Kathy laughed. “We know why the impeccably punctual Steve Adams was twelve minutes late, and it wasn’t because he had to find a parking spot!”

“Guilty as charged and NO regrets!” Jessica laughed.

The hostess led us to one of the private booths and handed everyone their menus. After checking with Jessica, I ordered three bottles of red wine, and a glass of bourbon for each of the guys.

“You don’t drink at all, Doctor Jessica?” Brian asked.

“No. I’m an alcoholic. I used to think I could drink on special occasions and handle it. I was wrong. I stopped completely after the accident. And given my profession, ANY alcohol in my system disqualifies me from working, so it’s just as well I’m a teetotaler.”

“Sorry.”

“About what? You asked a legitimate question when everyone else is drinking. It’s no secret that I had a drinking problem. I went to rehab for that, and other stuff. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely take, and I had problems later on.”

“It’s your birthday, so I apologize for bringing it up.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ringo!” Jessica smirked.

“OK, now I don’t feel so bad!” he laughed. “I swear, EVERYONE has picked up on that, including some of the guys at the base!”

“Hey man, you went to Saint Martin with John, Paul, and George!”

“Yeah, but why couldn’t I be Brian Epstein?” he protested.

“Because it wouldn’t have been funny, Ringo!” I chuckled. “Not to mention the indirect Pulp Fiction reference!”

“With Steve and his boys, it’s all ‘Darmok’, all the time,” Kurt laughed.

“He’s got Nicholas doing it!” Tom laughed. “Nicholas was walking around the house singing I Can’t Wait to be King!”

I chuckled, “Jesse and Matthew sang that as a duet! Mostly to annoy Birgit, of course, but to make a point that they’re just looking for the right moment to overthrow the oppressive Adams regime!”

“Riiiigggghhhttt!” Kurt laughed. “Oppressive! I don’t think that applies to ANY of us here. Well, we don’t know about the sailor and the debutante because they don’t have kids yet!”

“Debutante?” Samantha laughed. “Please! I NEVER had a presentation like that. Some of the girls did, but my dad was more worried about business training than me wearing a formal gown to some ball! He wanted to screw debutantes, not raise one!”

“I heard you negotiated for him to be at your wedding,” Kathy said.

Samantha nodded, “Having effectively limitless resources has its advantages at times. The State of Illinois and the Federal government are going to present me with a bill that I suspect will be closer to six figures than four.”

“Ouch!” Tom said. “For what?”

“Transportation, protection detail, overnight accommodations for the detail for two nights, security at the wedding, and a host of other ‘incidentals’. That gets my dad a total of ten hours, four of which are transportation to and from the prison.”

“Pete?” Kurt asked.

Samantha shook her head, “No. Melanie helped me negotiate with the State and Feds, so Pete can’t be involved without creating potential issues. Most likely the detail will come from another office and be supplemented by Chicago guys.”

“How many marshals do they need?” Tom asked. “It’s not like we’re talking Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy or Charles Manson!”

“Those guys would never get out for something like this,” I said. “And you have to admit Noel Spurgeon would be a flight risk.”

“Exactly,” Samantha said. “That was the biggest issue. I managed to negotiate no shackles for the wedding and the reception, but he’ll have a locator cuff and never be out of sight of two Deputy US Marshals with several others at the Botanic Gardens for the wedding and reception. I managed to avoid having to pay for a helicopter to surveil, but if something DOES happen, I’ll not only have to pay for that, but also forfeit the $10 million bond I had to post against it.”

“Jesus,” Tom said, shaking his head.

“You know what he did, right?” she asked.

“Sure. The numbers are just mind-boggling.”

The wine and our drinks arrived and after we placed our dinner orders, I offered a toast to Jessica’s birthday.

“I got my new shift!” she said. “Which means I get to sleep with my husband and wife all the time!”

“TMI!” Brian declared with a smirk.

“Oh please,” Samantha said, shaking her head. “You think this group doesn’t know we have sex? You’ve been in the sauna naked with all of us!”

“I was teasing!” he laughed.

“Talk about an education!” Tom said, shaking his head. “I think we came to this party very late, Lieutenant.”

“What’s the saying?” Kathy asked. “Better late than never?”

“Ignore Tommy,” Bethany said with an impish grin. “He was raised Irish Catholic and still can’t get his head around the bunch of libertines I grew up with!”

“You have to admit that Nicholas talking about when he and Stephie have babies is a bit disconcerting coming from a seven-year-old boy!”

“Only because you were brainwashed by society about sex,” Kara replied. “It’s not your fault, really. I had the same issue. So did Jess.”

“I didn’t exactly have healthy role models,” Samantha said, shaking her head.

“You have to admit this is much healthier for the kids,” Jessica said, “even if it’s a bit disconcerting as you say.”

Our salads arrived, and we began eating which dampened the conversation a bit. When we finished our salads, the main courses arrived, and we feasted on wonderful Italian food. After we finished, and when the dishes were cleared away, the staff brought a cake to the table and sang an Italian version of Happy Birthday to Jessica. They cut the cake and served it with ice cream, and then all of us at the table sang the usual Happy Birthday and we dug into our cake and ice cream.

“What’s the plan for the rest of the evening,” Bethany asked casually, causing everyone to laugh.

“What do you THINK the plan is?!” Jessica asked, still laughing. “I don’t plan to sleep much, that’s for sure!”

When we finished eating, we all exchanged hugs and handshakes, and my wives and I hurried home to continue our celebration, starting with Jessica modeling her new kimono. After we helped her remove it, I folded it and put it away, and then Kara and I attacked Jessica.