Chapter 3: For Better or Worse

“Not my baby?”

Suddenly there was shock and anger.

“Paul after the 4th of July when we made love and could feel that thing we feel when we know that we’ve been knocked up, Blossom was not a part of that because of the doctors warning about having another baby. So, we were pretty sure that we caught, but not Blossom.” Lynn explained.

“Paul, after you were knocked out the leader took Blossom upstairs.” Erin spoke quietly.

My anger began to build. First it was anger at the man. Lynn spoke again.

“They were threatening the kids.”

Then it was anger that I was not able to stop it. My face began to feel hot, like it was swelling.

“We all talked, and we decided to go along to keep you and the children safe. After that, the leader took Blossom upstairs and raped her.” Erin finished.

Finally anger at a world that would allow the rape of a loving mother and the murder of a child and not allow me to stop it.

“WELL THAT WORKED OUT WELL!”

I lashed out with the meanness that anger brings. I was screaming.

“TAYLOR IS DEAD, AND MY WIFE MAY BE HAVING SOMEONE ELSE’S BABY!”

The air was split with the loudest voice I had ever heard.

“PAUL! SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Blossom screamed, before speaking in a soft whisper.

“He raped me.”

She broke down crying hysterically. My anger was popped like a balloon. I hung my head in shame. I reached out for Blossom, but she pushed me away. I was persistent and finally Blossom came into my arms, still crying.

“I’m sorry.” I spoke quietly.

“I’m sorry too.” She whispered through her sobs.

“I am so sorry, Baby. I still don’t really know what happened.”

I looked at my other wives and pleaded with them.

“Would someone please tell me everything that happened after I got knocked out. I don’t want to piss off anyone else. I suddenly felt so angry. But I guess that’s from my ignorance of the whole situation. I’m not angry with you three, but at everything. Life. Fate. Everything. Please, let me understand where we are at.”

The three women began to tell the story. Lynn began at the point where the one guy had reached out for her and I was hit over the head. She told about the man wanting to rape one of the girls and how she had told the other wives to go along to save the babies. When she got to that point, Blossom took over and, through her tears and sobs, bravely told what happened to her. Then Lynn told me how she had consoled Blossom when she came back.

Erin took over and explained how her attacker had forced her to ride him and how she had killed her attacker.

“You smothered him with your breast?”

“Damn right!”

She told about how she had gotten the Glock and made her way downstairs to the ballroom doorway and used the ballroom phone to call 9-1-1.

“I came down the back stairs and was peeking out the ballroom door when Lynn saw me. She slowly moved Blossom out of the line of fire. They tried to move towards the guy by the girls, but they were told to go the other way by the leader. By then they were clear, so I took aim on the leader and put two in his chest from the ballroom door.”

Lynn took over and told how the leader had accidentally shot me as he had fallen and how Taylor had attacked the third man when he aimed his gun at me. She told how she shot the last man holding my baby and how he then shot Taylor in the head and how Lynn shot him again. At that point, for the first time in this whole thing, Lynn broke.

“I killed her! It was all my fault. Blossom said you were shot, and I screamed, and Taylor bit him, and I fired. His hand jerked and he fired. He killed our daughter. It was my fault. Erin, I am so sorry.”

The scene quickly turned into a huge mess with all three women in hysterics on the bathroom floor. I sat there in shock. Blossom had been raped, Erin had been raped and then killed her rapist. Erin had killed the leader, who had shot me. Lynn shot the man holding my first daughter and she thought that was why he killed her. The room was full of guilt, and shame, and sorrow.

I rose from the side of the tub, where I has sat while doing the pregnancy tests, and turned on the shower and herded my wives under the calming and soothing drops of the rain shower head. I had my arms around all of them as we held each other, in tears.

“Not your fault. Not your fault.”

Erin kept saying that to Lynn while she caressed and kissed her smooth head. The two long-time friends, lovers, and now spouses, embraced and shared their grief and guilt. While they did what had not been done since the incident, Blossom took over and told how she had given me first aid and stopped the bleeding from my back and head.

“The police came in almost immediately. Erin was screaming, holding Taylor’s body. Margaret was screaming hysterically and was covered in blood from her sister. I just tried to hold it together.” My smallest wife explained.

“The cops burst in the front door, weapons ready. As soon as they had cleared the scene, the EMT’s came in and took care of you and the guy that Lynn shot. Lynn hadn’t killed the guy. The EMT had to pry Taylor from Erin’s arms. He was going to work on her, but the back of her head was gone and there was nothing he could do for her. Lynn directed the other EMT’s upstairs to the bedroom and the other dead guy.”

Blossom was sobbing while she talked.

“That was when I ran upstairs as well and got three robes for us. I came back down to find the EMT’s had you on a stretcher and were rushing you out the door. There were several guys in street clothes. They were detectives. They started asking a lot of questions and got a little pissy when I offered the robes to Erin and Lynn. I told them to stop ogling my naked wives and get their heads out of their asses. Then I had to get Erin and Margaret calmed down again when the EMT’s tried to take Taylor’s body.”

Blossom took a long pause and a deep breath. She wiped the tears from her eyes, even though the shower was raining down on her head.

“After that, I called Dara and my folks and told them the short version of what had happened, and they said they would get here in record time. At that point, we all sat on the couch being questioned by the detectives and talked to the detectives until Dara, Mom and Dad showed up. They took the girls upstairs to calm them down and stayed to take care of the babies and the girls”

“We asked the detectives if we could please continue the questioning at the hospital and, after telling the girls what we were doing and calming Margaret again, who was clinging to my Mom after the EMT’s had washed the blood off her and checking to see if it was from her, the detectives took us to the hospital. We sat in the waiting area while they finished our questioning and you were in surgery.”

That was when Erin began again.

“While we were gone to the hospital, DFS came and tried to take the kids. Dad and Mom almost came to blows with the lady from DFS. Carla remembered where Lynn kept the papers on our union and brought them down to show the lady from DFS. She read them over and then asked Carla and Mom and Dad a lot of questions. She tried to talk to Margaret, but she was still really upset.”

Erin continued.

“That was when Genevieve and Erin Lynn spoke up and told the DFS lady that we were a family and that they all wanted to stay here. They had the DFS people almost in tears as they told about Taylor and how bad Margaret was feeling. Penelope broke in and begged the lady bot to take her away from her daddy and her mother and moms.”

“The DFS lady sat and listened. She didn’t cut the girls off and seemed like she really cared. When everyone had their say, she told Mom and dad that the kids could stay here until the moms got home. Then she would like to come back and talk to us and investigate further.”

Lynn returned to the conversation.

“When we all got back from the hospital, we were a mess and when Carla told me about DFS, I almost lost it. She explained what she had done and how the lady from DFS had responded. I was so proud of our daughter, Paul. Anyway, the lady from DFS came back the next day and we all had a long sit down while the girls were in the back yard showing the guys from DFS around they garden and then into the family room/ They began to read their favorite stories to the guys, so by the time the lady finished with us and caught up with her men, they were convinced that the kids were in great hands.”

“They were so impressed that when the hospital refused to let the girls see you, she pulled rank on them and led the Herd to your room, telling the administrator that it was in the best interest of the girls mental health to see their father. You were out and strapped down and had tubes everywhere. That worried the girls until the doctor came and explained that you were going to be alright. The lady from DFS said that she was so happy that this was the last case she was taking care of before retiring. She said that she had seen too many injured and assaulted children. Our family let her walk away with a smile and a feeling that there was hope in the world.”

“And that pretty much brings us up to now, seven weeks later.” Lynn said as she finished.

“Where is the guy?”

“In the hospital, I guess. I don’t really know. We have been a little preoccupied holding ourselves, and the family and our businesses together.” Lynn said.

“I want the guy dead.”

“We do too. But he will get life in prison with no chance of parole.”

“I don’t care. I want to get to him.”

“Lynn tell him what you said to the guy.” Erin looked at her wife.

“I told him that if he hurt any of my daughters that I would hunt down and kill every member of his family.”

“She told him that she would even kill every dog and cat that belonged to the family. Aunts uncles, Everybody.” Erin looked resolute.

“And?” I looked at Lynn.

“I have found several members of his family. But I have not taken any steps. Paul, he was the worst of his family. Every other member I have found are fine, upstanding people. They don’t deserve to die any more than Taylor did.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Paul, I shot him in the leg and in the chest. When he gets out of the hospital, I am going to decide how to take care of him.”

My emotions were running wild as I thought about the third bad guy.

“Don’t kill him. I want to find a way to hurt him for the rest of his life. While he is in prison, I want to find a way to break his bones and for him to lose his balls and his eyes. I want every day of his life to be hell. A bigger hell than prison is.”

“We will talk.”

“No! We won’t. I want this guy in hell.”

“Then get ready to join him in jail, because that is where you will end up. So back up a little. You have to find a way to lose this hate and anger. Your hate will ruin you and us and our surviving kids and the kids that are on their way.”

Kids on their way! That shook me. I felt deflated.

“The coming kids. Lynn, I don’t know what to do. I am so angry, and I’m scared for Blossom.”

We had made our way from the shower to the bed as the story was told. I got up and went to the dresser and picked up my cell phone. As we walked down to the kitchen, I hit an oft used speed dial button.

“Dr. Grand’s service.”

“Hi, I need to talk to Dr. Grand as soon as possible.”

“Is this an emergency?”

“Not the kind you think. I need to speak to him ASAP. Please leave that message from Paul O’Dell.”

“Mr. O’Dell with all of the kids?”

“Yes.”

“I will let him know right away, and Mr. O’Dell, I am so sorry for your loss.”

I paused a moment, took a deep breath and spoke.

“Thank you.”

I disconnected the phone, tears welling up in my eyes.

“While I was out, did this case make a lot of news?” I wondered.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because the woman who answered for the doctors service knew about our loss.”

The women looked at me like they were concerned that they were being forced to unpeel another layer of the story.

“Yes, it was plastered all over the TV and papers. It seemed that for almost two months every asshole in the world stopped being an asshole. Our entire area was focused on our case.” Lynn answered.

“Great. Anything from DFS?”

“No. Family Services have not paid us a return visit, yet. After they interviewed the kids and taking them to visit you in the hospital, we had some more interviews with the lady from DFS. She cleared us and we haven’t seen hide nor hair of DFS since. She was good people.”