Chapter 31

With his last spark of energy, Eddie brought Rhonda’s tape to the Record Plant Tuesday morning, where they’d print the vinyl and the CD. Packaging would have to wait, hopefully for not too long. Belle dropped off Eddie at Joanne’s, where he collapsed into the bed, only briefly waking up Rachel. “Done?” she asked.

“Yep.”

He quickly joined her in sleep.

His didn’t last long. In fact only Rachel got much sleep, since everyone else had gotten up early. Joe wanted to see Joanne before she went to work and Charlie and Ella before they headed off to school.

“I disagree with Caroline,” Joanne surprised Joe when he told her of the old model’s and his conversation. “We can come visit on the weekend. Or you can come back here later. But MIRE is backing Rhonda up, and should be part of Caroline’s pictures.”

“Maybe we could work on the music there,” Rhonda suggested.

“We could set up in the basement,” Joe realized. “But Charlie wouldn’t be there. Or Belle.”

“Why not Belle? And maybe Claire could join us.”

“I could ask,” Joe said. “That would be half of the Monsters.”

“The better half,” Rhonda grinned.

“I’m okay, Daddy,” said Ella. “As long as you could maybe come back later in the week.”

“I will, sweetheart,” Joe smiled. “Promise.”

Once the kids and Joanne had left, Joe, Cheryl and Cynthia worked. Joe on the final edit of moms. Cynthia on his script. Cheryl moving from her exposé to her script. Three typewriters were available, all sitting on the living room coffee table. But only Cheryl’s got worked on mostly, since the other two were editing. Joe only typed out longer changes to paste into his manuscript. And Cynthia did things similarly.

When Rachel awoke, she went into the study to make calls. Including to Belle and Claire, who agreed to leave work early and take another day off. She also contacted Dylan’s assistant who told her she’d confirm the licensing of Hard Rain the following day, along with the cost.

Joe joined her to make a call to Constance, confirming the plans Caroline had given her the evening before. Constance told him they were just about to head down to her mansion, and would see them there.

“I’m horny,” said Rachel as soon as he replaced the phone in its cradle.

Joe shrugged. They pulled out the sofa bed. They stripped. Rachel lay on the bed, legs spread. Joe knelt between them and found her already damp, making her damper with his tongue. “Fuck me, Joe,” she insisted.

“Turn over,” he said.

He fucked her doggy style as if punishing her. The palms of his hands often striking her fine, reddened butt.

“You never learn do you?” he scolded. “Rache the Bache forever.”

“I can’t help it,” she moaned. “Maybe if you kept me in line.”

“Greedy and selfish too,” he muttered, spanking her. He rammed two fingers into her anus.

“Oh fuck Joe!” she exclaimed, pulling hard on her nipples.

See her approaching climax, he reached around and roughed up her clit with his fingers and pounded into her even harder. The speed had its consequences for him as well. When she exploded in orgasm, his even more rapid strokes brought him his.

Pulling his flaccid penis out of her, he gently kissed and rubbed her tender butt. She turned over and pulled him atop her and they finally kissed.

“You really haven’t been a bitch lately,” he said.

“In my head,” she grinned, and pulled him into another kiss.

He turned them over so he wasn’t crushing her.

“I’m thinking about calling talk shows,” she said.

“We need time to put together a band,” he reminded her.

“You guys sounded pretty good in the studio.”

“But you know how much a perfectionist Eddie is.”

She sighed. “I’ll talk to him.”

“And there’s the drummer problem.”

“Nathan is adorable and keeps good time.”

“True,” Joe chuckled.

“Maybe I’ll call around anyway. Just to gage the interest.”

“You’re her manager now,” Joe said.

“And you’re her dad.”

“Rhonda’s fine with it. Eddie’s the one who needs to be okay.”

“I’ll talk to him about the timing.”

“But you’ll still call.”

“Yep.”

“Bitch.”

Rachel laughed. “Told you.”

“Up,” said Joe.

She gave him one last little kiss and got up. She went into the adjoining half bath while Joe dressed and went back to the living room.

“How’s Rachel?” Cheryl asked.

“Horny.”

“We heard,” Cynthia said and Cheryl giggled.

“She’s going to call around about appearances.”

“Eddie’s going to shit,” said Cheryl.

“We should wait until the record gets released.”

“That’ll help. Speaking of which...”

“Distribution,” Joe nodded.

“Has Eddie or Rachel talked about it?” Cheryl asked.

“No, because it hadn’t been in the plans.”

“True. As long as we’re here, maybe we could talk to Eddie’s old label.”

“Of which Joanne is still a partner,” Joe smiled. “I’ll call her.”

“Maybe talk to Rachel first?”

Joe chuckled. “Probably a good idea.”

They decided to wait until Eddie was awakened to head to the mansion. Lack of sleep made him grumpy, but a joint helped him ease into the day. No one else partook.

Though it wasn’t conducive for napping, which Eddie probably needed, he decided to head to the countryside with Joe and Rachel. Which meant, in the roadster, Rachel sitting on his lap. The ideas of playing live on television and getting the record distributed had been brought up, making his choice, so that during the long trip they could hash it out.

“Cheryl’s idea is good,” Rachel started as Joe began the drive.

“It does make sense,” Eddie agreed. “But it means negotiating with Jo.”

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Rachel said. “We’ve had to be two businesswomen with her handing things over to me. I believe she’s come to realize I’m perfectly capable of taking over your management.”

“It didn’t start out smoothly,” Joe reminded her.

“And you helped with that. I stopped needling her about things I would have done. It actually got to the point where she went back to some of those things. I think to assure her of my capabilities.”

“I can’t imagine it was easy for her to let go,” said Eddie.

“Of course not. Especially to her nemesis. But she realized we were both there for you. And that made things easier.”

“So it will be a friendly negotiation,” Joe said.

“I think so. Even Cheryl will be less aggressive, being that it’s Joanne.”

“It’s kind of a funny change in dynamics,” said Eddie. “With Joanne sitting across the table instead of next to Cheryl.”

“It’s also different because I don’t think Cheryl will be there to make the most of it the way she always does,” Joe said. “She knows Rhonda doesn’t care about how much she gets out of it.”

“Except,” Rachel said, “If we continue associating with Jo’s label, this will affect Eddie’s records.”

“I don’t really care,” said Eddie. “My last label plans on putting out my entire output on CD. An influx of capital is inevitable.”

“When did they plan that?” Joe asked.

“Last week,” Rachel said.

“I hoped you informed Cheryl.”

“I didn’t.”

“Damn it.”

“All Eddie wanted was to be involved in the mixing from analog to digital. They resisted, but I managed to convince them to keep the residuals the same.”

“How much are they claiming cost of production, distributing and advertising against Eddie’s take?”

“He gets 10 percent.”

“Gross?”

“Net.”

“Damn it.”

“I didn’t want to stir the pot,” Eddie said. “For less, I still keep some control.”

“And you already signed on for this?”

“Yes,” said Rachel.

“Without Cheryl? Or any legal glance?”

“They said they owned the recordings. It was theirs to do what they wanted.”

“Bullshit. It’s still Eddie’s copyright. He still could have negotiated. Or Cheryl could have for him. If they didn’t give him a reasonable percentage, Cheryl could have easily found another company to do it with a lot better money. I can’t imagine Scott or Cheryl would have allowed such a loophole for the company to take that much control. The cost? You know those little pieces of plastic are cheaper to make than vinyl. And advertising? You think they’re going to advertise all that much for a bunch of reissues? They need to sell their newest product. Which, by the way, does not include anything of yours, Eddie.”

“It does actually,” said Eddie. “A new greatest hits CD with a second CD with live takes and unreleased tracks.”

“I hope they let you control those choices.”

“Up to a point.”

“What do you mean?”

“They have ... choices.”

“And if you hate them all? I do remember how careful you’ve been at picking the gems from the chaff.”

“Some pretty great songs didn’t fit.”

“And do they have any idea which ones you thought were great?”

“I don’t know.”

“Or maybe they’re looking for the stupid ones. You know, the ones they think are simple enough to make into hits.”

“At least I get the old percentage on the hits CDs. It’s a new product, even if it’s just the packaging.”

Joe sighed. “Do you even care anymore? Fine. When are your heading to LA.?”

“In a couple weeks.”

“I guess we’ll have Rhonda’s band ready by then.”

“I doubt...” Eddie started.

“Timing Eddie. Most of the appearances would be out there. If you don’t think MIRE is ready, it could just be you and Rhonda playing guitars.”

“And you on Nige’s bass.”

“Fine. Whatever. What are they planning to do until then? The label?”

“They’re going to digitize the albums. Let me judge what they’ve done and figure out if it’s shit.”

“You know it will be. I remember you went nuts with the last album. How horrible the CD sounded.”

“I remember. And fixed it. At least the best I could. But I’m sure digitalizing has gotten better.”

“And you trust them to mix it right?”

“No.”

“Of course not. No one but you should touch them. No one but you can make it sound right.”

“I fucked up, didn’t I?” Eddie muttered.

“It was my fault,” Rachel admitted.

“You both fucked up. Do you have the contract, Rachel?”

“Yes.”

“Show it to Cheryl.”

“I will.”

“I just hope we have something to sell in a couple weeks.”

“We should,” said Eddie. “I paid enough to hurry the manufacturing. Caroline will just have to hurry the cover.”

“She’ll probably have something in a couple days. At least the artwork. We’ll need to rush the graphics as well.”

“Jo’s company?”

“Yeah. But two weeks?”

“Maybe three.”

“If we’re lucky.”

“Yeah.”

“And what the fuck will Rhonda’s CD sound like?” Joe asked.

“It’ll be fine. I know what to expect and mixed the CD tape accordingly.”

“Good.”

“So I guess I’ll set things up in LA for a couple weeks,” said Rachel. “And for New York the following week.”

“If I can get done with the mixing,” said Eddie.

“Or we’ll just have to spend a quick day or two in the big apple,” Joe said.

“You could stay longer,” said Rachel.

“I have work to do here,” Joe reminded her.

“Yeah.”

“We should probably do something here,” said Eddie. “Before Rhonda confronts the cameras in LA.”

“Some sort of showcase?” Joe asked.

“It’s what would be available,” Eddie nodded.

“I’ll call around,” said Rachel.

“Talk to Joanne,” Joe suggested. “If anyone knows of a space, it’s her. And we’ll have to have Caroline do a one sheet to put in the Reader and the Shitty Pages.”

“Maybe bring cameras to the event,” said Eddie.

“Good idea. Joanne can set that up, too.”

Rachel and Eddie nodded.

“Shit,” said Eddie. “It’s not like we have a concert worth of material for Rhonda.”

“Then it will have to be the premiere of MIRE as well,” Joe suggested.

“Yeah. We could have Ronnie sing Hard Rain and I Want You at the start and finish. And two of her three songs are long. Then we could do Nige’s song and a couple other new ones and some old Monsters songs. Or we could have Charlie join us to do some songs from your musical.”

“Why not?” Joe shrugged. “Are we talking about the Solomon Family Band?”

“Shit,” said Eddie.

“It ain’t going to be perfect.”

“No it’s not. But at least three of us will be ready for it.”

“You and me?”

“And Belle.”

Joe nodded. “And I think Charlie will be up to the task.”

“He’s never been in a rock band before.”

“But he knows what it’s like to perform.”

“After weeks of rehearsal.”

Joe shrugged. “He’ll be ready.”

“You’re probably right. He’ll definitely take focus.”

“With you and Rhonda on stage?”

“And a little kid on little drums,” Eddie chuckled. Then grimaced. “Do you know how wrong this feels?”

“I know,” Joe said.

“I’ve never rushed anything like this.”

“I know.”

“Fuck,” said Eddie, pulling out a joint. This time everyone shared it.

Tom greeted Joe at the door of the rural mansion with his familiar smile. Ten years since they met had aged him. Looking older and thicker and moving slower. His wife in the kitchen, greeting Joe with a chicken salad sandwich had aged similarly. Joe, and everyone else, brought the sandwiches into the dining room, looking much different, much brighter than years before. New, much lighter wood table and chairs. The walls an eggshell white. Joe’s favorite painting by his favorite German Expressionist artist remained, as did the portrait of Constance Freddy had painted with paint by numbers which expressed Constance’s mental instability. Constance had accepted its suggestion and finally found it funny. Other portraits had been removed for brighter ones. Joe spooned out potato salad and coleslaw onto his plate and settled into his seat.

“What’s the plan?” Cheryl asked.

“Caroline?” Joe handed it off.

“Being that its winter in frigging Minnesota, with snow and cold, it’s a lot to ask, but I’d like to shoot by the large sculpture and by the lake. I’ll make it quick as possible. I’d like the band that’s here to be part of it, but I will mostly be shooting Rhonda.”

“I thought we’d pull out the equipment and maybe the stage downstairs,” Joe said. With Eddie and Monsters getting away to the mansion and rehearsing in the basement, and with parties there, especially wrap parties for Joe’s play having a band there, sometimes even the Monsters, Joanne had bitten the bullet and bought some amps, mics and a sound board. Even a keyboard. All advised by Eddie and stashed in a large closet in the basement, along with a portable stage. “We need to rehearse.”

“Of course,” said Rhonda.

“It’s become a bit more urgent than we thought,” said Eddie, and as if planned, Belle and Claire joined them, making Rhonda grin.

“Hi Claire!” Rhonda jumped out of her chair and hugged her.

“Hey Big Star,” Claire grinned.

Once the two ladies settled into their seats, Eddie continued. “I need to head to LA in a couple weeks, and Joe thought Rachel should get some gigs on talk shows or whatever as long as we’re there.”

“Two weeks?” Belle exclaimed.

“I know,” Eddie sighed. “I was thinking just me and Joe and you, Ronnie. I don’t know how polished we can get the others by then.”

“Makes sense, Mr. Perfection,” Belle said,

“But I still want to do a sort of prep performance. A showcase so Ronnie can experience playing in front of an audience, and more importantly, in front of cameras.”

“Makes sense Uncle Eddie,” Rhonda said. “I think I’ll be okay, but I guess I won’t know until I do it.”

“Everyone gets nervous,” Eddie continued. “It’s just a matter of working through it, even using it. I won’t say it’s not difficult. For me more than anyone.”

“You had problems?” Rhonda asked.

“Ask your dad,” Eddie chuckled.

“When he was a couple years older than you,” Joe explained, “he used to get sick, throw up, and then get the shakes. Once he started, though, he settled down.”

“It was enough for me to avoid it,” said Eddie. “But I found that if I wasn’t alone, if I had a band with me, it really helped. Early on, I had a hard time performing solo, but eventually it didn’t bother me as much. But I still feel a lot better with others on stage.”

“Some people nervousness can be too much,” Rhonda said.

“Yeah. People freeze.”

“I think I’ll be okay. I did that little performance for those reporters. I was nervous, but I did okay.”

“You did great,” Rachel grinned.

“Thanks.”

“To tell you the truth,” Eddie continued, “I may be more nervous than you. As Belle sort of suggested, I like to be extremely ready before I get on stage. Lots and lots of practice.”

“It actually took us months before we did our first show,” Belle explained. “Sometimes we’d have a new person, and he probably wished we had more time...”

“Me,” Claire said.

“Yeah,” said Eddie. “But in those situations, I at least knew the base group was well rehearsed.”

“When we had some new songs, we always practiced them to death,” said Belle.

“And when we switched our second guitarist and drummer, Eddie made sure they were tight,” Claire added.

“At least a couple months with them,” Belle agreed. “And I bet Eddie wished it had been longer.”

“I did,” Eddie chuckled.

“I’ll get my camera stuff together,” said Constance. “You guys get your coats. If you have sweaters, that would be better.

Constance shot images of mostly Rhonda in front of the large sculpture. Rhonda wore her favorite sweater, natural wool colored, which she had gotten in Brittany in early summer when the family journeyed to France. It had been bought big, but was becoming tight. Others of the band posed behind her, including Joe, Eddie and Belle, the latter two wore leather jackets, completely acceptable to Constance.

They moved the shoot to the lake, with the old boathouse behind. Then quickly returned to the warmth of the mansion.

In the basement, Eddie guided the set-up, which included the portable stage. Once tuned, they began to play, Claire learning as they went. The little drum kit had been brought along for Nathan.

Claire actually played on the floor of the basement, so that she wasn’t included in photographs, having not played on the record.

When Caroline finished her photographing, Joe and Rachel conferred with her. “I can do graphics,” she told them. “For the poster and for the covers.”

That brought Eddie over, and he gave her the song order of the record and CD, and what the authorship should be, including a solo one for Rhonda’s latest song.

“What about a logo for the label?” Caroline asked.

“Something simple,” Eddie said. “MIRE all in caps. I trust you. With all of this.”

“I’ll show you what I’ve got,” Caroline insisted. “I should be done by tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll call the Record Plant then,” said Rachel. “They’ll know where we can get the sleeves and labels printed.”

“Could you do the actual CD image?” Eddie asked Caroline.

“Sure. And I know a printer that can make the poster look its best.”

“I’ll bring it to the weeklies,” Rachel said. “I’ll go call Joanne now about the space, so we can have the information.”

“You think she can find the space right away?” Eddie asked.

“If anyone could,” Joe smiled.

The band returned to work. Just them. Cheryl and Cynthia joined the exodus to work on writing. Constance had been absent since lunch, working on Joe’s musical. Eddie had tapes of the songs so far, including a couple interludes for choral singing and dancing, in which lyrics had yet to be written. There would be a lot of time for Constance to work on her choreography. Joe figured she wanted to be alone.

Rehearsal ended around seven, whereupon everyone went up for dinner. Martha had made a wonderful beef stew for them, ready whenever they were. Fresh from scratch biscuits as well.

While the rest stayed in the kitchen, Joe went upstairs. After getting kisses from Cheryl and Cynthia before they headed downstairs, he knocked on the door to Caroline’s darkroom. “It’s Joe,” he shouted to her. “Dinner.”

“Give me a few minutes,” she shouted back.

“I’ll check on Constance.”

“Good idea.”

After a brief knock, Joe opened Constance’s office door. It’s how they expected it. Joe rarely waited for her to respond to his knock.

“Freddy?” Joe muttered in surprise.

Freddy’s smirk on her tight, hardened face didn’t help his less than pleasant response.

“She ... called,” Constance said unsteadily.

“This is when you’re usually in town,” Freddy said. “It’s a beautiful musical.”

“Thanks. Why are you here?”

“Connie said this would be the last of your collaborations. I thought, for old time’s sake, I’d do the sets.”

“I do like having the technical stuff done early,” Constance added as an excuse.

“Why are you here?” Joe repeated.

“I just said...”

“No!” Joe shouted, setting Constance to trembling. Joe sighed and sat on the daybed, pulling Constance into his lap. “Just go, Freddy. We’ll talk later.”

“But...”

“Go,” he muttered, holding back his anger.

“Not even Frederica anymore?” she grumbled.

“No. Please.”

“I came all the way here.”

“Uninvited.”

“Connie invited me. It’s her home.”

“Please go.”

“Whatever. Asshole.” And Freddy left.

“Ssh,” Joe whispered.

“I thought...” Constance barely said. “She’s...”

“She changed, Constance. I thought you saw that.”

Constance giggled, which had a heartbreaking dissonance. “I should have guessed. She calls me Connie.”

“She’s become an angry woman. I’m not sure why, but I have my suspicions.”

“She has such a lovely husband. But of course I did too.”

“It’s not him. Even if she thinks it is. He is a lovely man. But he’s not like Jonathon. Not in the least.”

“I wouldn’t think so. So not even gay?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t understand. He’s a handsome man. Beautiful even. And so strong. Virile.”

“Once the physical goes away, what’s left?”

“The emotional?”

“Character, Constance. A shy, soft man, despite his appearances. A simple man. Clashing with a bitch too smart for her own good.”

“I thought you liked smart women.”

“I love smart women. Manipulative ones not so much.”

“I thought she was a sweet young girl. Serious but sweet.”

“I thought she was too. I thought she was different from her sister, who tried to control things with Eddie. Manipulate him. Freddy was just cleverer at it. Subtler.”

“This is about you, isn’t it? And her husband not being you.”

“I’m afraid it is.”

“She misses her stud.”

“Literally.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sure she misses the sex. I know I’m pretty good at it.”

“Pretty good?”

“I know how to please women. But it’s more than that. She can’t have me, obviously. I have my wives. I have Joanne. And you.”

She turned around and straddled him. “It’s not like you’re exclusive,” she smirked, her fingers combing through his hair.

“In a way I am. I only want to be with women who I care about, and who care about me.”

“And that’s not Frederica?”

“Maybe I still do care about her, despite herself. But she’s too self-absorbed to care about anyone but herself. She can’t be with me. She thinks she’s stuck with a weak husband, dumb and uninteresting. Enough disgust in him to make sure her kids aren’t even his.”

“Yours?”

“I’m pretty sure. She did her best to make that happen. Seducing me at the most opportune time.”

“She needed to seduce you?”

“It made me uncomfortable, screwing a married woman, but she managed to find my weakness. For old time’s sake I guess. She claimed Luke was aware, but I had my doubts. I guess I set them aside. Part of it was my attraction to her. I still have it. She’s managed to retain her strong, petite body. And she relaxed somehow, that hardness in her face disappearing and I glimpsed at the Frederica I once loved. That in itself might have seduced me. But I think she’s just a formidable actress when she needs to be.”

“You’ve screwed a married woman,” Constance reminded him.

“Because you needed me to give you what you always wanted and never had.”

“And she isn’t that needy?”

“Maybe she is. But it comes with a hard and mean agenda. Nine months after her seduction, a baby was born.”

“I had my suspicions. The way her daughter looks like Rhonda enough for them to be sisters. But not the son.”

“I think with the son, it didn’t take. I imagine she needed to fuck Luke at a nearby time to make it seem like his. His sperm proved to be the successful one. I’m pretty sure Luke knows, but I’m also pretty sure he doesn’t care.”

“He doesn’t love her either?”

“I think it’s more complicated than that. I think he still cares about her. He wants her to be happy, although that doesn’t appear to be an easy thing to accomplish. But he’s actually in love with my mother.”

“Complicated like a soap opera.”

“Yeah. It’s definitely weird. Apparently my mom likes them young. Him and Belle.”

“Your age.”

“I’ve thought about that.”

“But you’re not attracted to her. Being old.”

“I might be, but it’s disturbing.”

“Because she’s old?”

“You know that has nothing to do with it.”

“Then prove it. Make love to me.”

“Not in our usual way?”

“No Joe. Please. Be gentle.”

“Yes Constance,” Joe smiled and kissed her. She pressed her groin against his. He could feel the heat and reacted. Thankfully.

Caroline entered the office. “I’ll let them know you’ll be awhile,” she grinned.

The kiss broke and two older women stared at each other. “Thank you, beautiful,” Constance finally said.

Caroline nodded and left, shutting the door gently behind her.

“Where were we?” Constance grinned and recommenced the kissing. Her groin rubbed more and more vigorously against the hardening flesh she relished feeling. Their hands worked on removing the upper clothing. He didn’t mind the sagging tits she revealed. Feeling the taut nipples scrape against his torso helped.

“Please,” she moaned.

He lifted her when he stood and lowered her onto her back. Her hand rubbed across the lump his erection created, so he removed the barriers and let her hand take his thick, long flesh. But he pulled the hand away, removing her slacks and panties and began sucking her pussy.

“So good,” she moaned.

Instead of teasing, he hurried her to her climax, gentling his caresses until she recovered somewhat. When he crawled over her, she seized his hard cock and guiding him into her.

“I love your cock inside me,” she moaned as he pushed in.

“My cock loves it too,” he said before leaning down and kissing her.

As promised, he fucked her gently. Her legs wrapped around his ass to sustain it. But when her desire rose, her legs guided him to fuck her harder. Her fingers began molesting her nipples like she preferred it. His mouth came down to nibble one nipple after the other, teeth carefully scraping them.

His knees moved up, lifting her. He fucked her hard and high. He spanked her ass and rubbed and pinched her clit vigorously. More like she usually wanted. Switching hands to redden both ass cheeks. One last bite and aggressive pinch and hard slap brought her over. He knew she wanted to know she could make him cum, so he hurried his strokes as fast as possible, and gave into the hint his balls gave of release. Pressing down hard and deep, he spurted into her no longer viable womb.

“Joe!” she moaned in her deepest voice. “You do desire me!”

“Of course, my darling slave,” Joe murmured back, kissing her softly.

He turned them over so she could rest on his chest. His penis slipped out with the change. “Could you come to our bed tonight?” she asked shyly. “I know Caroline desires you.”

“Of course.”

“I want you to make love to her. As long as she can stand it.”

“And you?”

“I’ll watch. I have a feeling I’ll be a bit sore. And I’m as sated as I’ve ever been.”

“Yes boss,” he smirked.

“Oh you,” Constance chuckled and nibbled on a nipple. “I may be an uppity slave, but you’ll always be my master.”

They clothed their sticky and sweaty bodies and went downstairs to join the others.

Just Caroline, Cynthia and Cheryl remained. The rest were relaxing and playing in the playroom. Both Caroline and Cheryl greeted Constance’s sated smile with grins.

“Thanks for lending me your husband,” said Constance.

“Any time,” Cheryl replied.

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

Martha served them bowls of stew and the rolls kept hot on a steam tray.

“Any news?” Joe asked.

“Jo got you guys a gig at the Medina Ballroom next Saturday,” said Cheryl.

Joe nodded. Not surprised.