Chapter 42

February 4^th, 2007, Saturday – February 5^th, 2007, Sunday

Carol

“Do you want to argue with her?”

“Yes,” Dommi replied.

“Then be my guest,” Carol said, as the two old friends walked around the mostly empty club.

“Maybe you should talk with her, my little cherubic diplomat...” Dommi said.

“No. If you want an argument with the senior Domme in our House, you’re going to be the one to make it happen. I’ll moderate, but you’re going to stick your butt in that buzzsaw, not me.”

“The House should not be subsidizing my club!”

“So you’ve said, several times.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am, Dommi darling. Think of it this way, if you would, please. Texas is a community property state. The club is all of ours. Margo’s not going to let it go under ... besides, it’s where we hold court. It’s part of Chorale’s ... presence ... identity.

“We love you, we’re going to subsidize your club, you are going to graciously accept our help, and obsess over some completely unnecessary ‘paying us back’. Got it?”

“All right already ... agreed.”

“I love it when you’re reasonable ... plus, after Daniella ruined Margo’s theory about any woman finding Kelly and me pleasant to look at, only a crazy person would piss in Madam’s Cheerios for a second time tonight.”

Margo

“Goddamn, what have I got us into?” Margo said as they rode back to Chorale South.

“Uh, rhetorical or actual question, Madam?” Kelly said.

“Rhetorical...” Margo growled.

“Madam,” Carol said, “you’re doing what you feel is necessary to keep the club solvent. I realize you know that, I just think you should take a calmer look at what you’ve set in motion this evening. You’re going to make it safer for members to attend, in concert with Anna Smith, thereby helping her as well. You’ve ensured Radio Free Mordor can live on what they’ll be paid to work the club five nights a week. The club’s most important work – sheltering submissives and finding them homes – will continue. The clinic will open soon. The spa construction will continue. You’ll be providing work for some group of entertainers ... once we find them.

“That’s a lot of good, Madam-wife”

“It’s a lot of goddamn expensive,” Margo replied. “But you’re right ... end of the day, we’ll be helping a lot of people.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“So ... how the fuck do we go about finding sex show performers when other club owners don’t want us anywhere near them?”

“You bought us some time,” Carol said. “You talked to Mistress Veronika. She and her people can fill in on weekends for awhile.

“As to your original question ... way I see it, we have two choices – make a group or find a group.”

“What about combining the two,” Kelly said. “Form the nucleus of a group from our expansive collection of subs. Audition for more ... pretty sure Andrew can get word out through his webcasts...”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Margo said, rubbing her face. “Only way we’re going to be able to handle all the problems we’re facing is to solve them one a time. I wouldn’t have picked this as the first one to tackle, and I’d have been wrong.”

“I think I know the answer,” Carol said, “but any movement on buying ‘Chains of Desire’ from that obnoxious prick?”

“No ... talked with Lawyer Daggett about it ... he suggested we find someone with experience in shell companies.”

“That can wait until Monday,” Carol said.

“Yeah,” Margo said. “Let’s get home ... Carol, check on our husband. Then I want a couple of really good orgasms and to sleep for about eighteen hours.”

Carol

“He was a little loopy earlier, Milady,” Camille said. “He crashed out and he’s still asleep.”

“Good to hear,” Carol said.

“Do you need him, Milady, ‘cause if you do I’ll wake him...”

“No, darling ... wake him if Jason calls, but that’s it.”

“Yes, Milady.”

Earl Culberson called her over from the ‘Family Table’.

“Hello angel,” he said, giving her a hug and a kiss. “Heard you come in ... everything okay?”

She sat down and one of the kitchen staff popped out.

“What may I get you, Milady?”

“Hot chocolate, instant is fine...”

“Yes, Milady.”

“Everything’s good, Papa, was just checking on Harry.”

“He finally did it...”

“Yes he did. Too many of us were pestering him, wanting babies.”

“Did you have to remind me of that, angel?”

“Oh, stop the act, Papa. You’ll enjoy grandchildren.”

“True, and I’ll spoil them rotten.”

“I hope you do ... it’s a grandparent’s sacred duty.”

“Any of yours still alive?”

“No ... well, maybe.”

Earl raised an eyebrow.

Carol’s hot chocolate arrived, she smiled her gratitude, and blew on the steaming cup.

“I never met my maternal grandparents, Mom wasn’t close to her family. They might be alive but I don’t care one way or another. They never made any attempt to see us.”

“That what your mother told you?”

“Yeah ... but I knew she was telling us the truth.

“My dad’s folks ... they passed away.”

“How did you get along with them?” Earl asked, holding up his coffee cup for a refill.

“They were the most wonderful people ever,” Carol said with a smile. “My folks ... their love was very conditional. If you followed their plan for your life, you were shown affection. It’s all performance based with them. My brothers said that made them crazy when Kim and I were babies as we were crying all the time ... crying babies were ignored if there was no apparent reason for their crying.”

“They just let you cry?” Earl said.

“Yeah ... now, I don’t know how I’ll be when the babies start coming, but what I’ve read says you can’t spoil a baby with attention. That kind of spoiling happens later in life. They cry, you comfort.”

“It’s the way we handled Kelly.”

“So ... my paternal grandparents ... where my folks were very conditional about their love – or at least showing any sign of it – Granny and Gramps were absolutely unconditional in their love. I grew up knowing they would love me no matter what. They might not like what I did when I misbehaved, but that would never, not even for a second, dim their love or stop them from expressing it. I even talked with them about my life choices – my submissive nature, dropping out of college – and they showed through word and deed that as long as I was happy, they were happy. If my decisions ended up making me unhappy down the road, they’d support my decision to change things.

“It was ... no aspersions on you, but if Granny and Gramps walked through the front door right now, all they would need to see would be my happiness. They would see it and want to meet the people who are part of it. They would love everyone and show it.”

“Must have been wonderful to have that in your life, unconditional love and acceptance...”

“It was ... and when I was younger, I think it saved my life a bunch of times. I wasn’t suicidal ... it’s just that I’d get beaten down so far by my parents’ expectations, and displeasure I wasn’t meeting those expectations, that I’d start thinking there was no way for me to make it through without bending to my parents’ will. I didn’t know I was a submissive yet, but my need for approval and validation ... there were times in my teenage years I strongly considered putting me – the real me – to the side and becoming what they wanted me to be.

“And I’d call Granny. She and Gramps would get on the line and I’d talk to them about it. If the phone call helped – and it usually did – all well and good. But if they felt I needed a break from my folks, they’d come get me and off I’d go for a stay at their house.

“This was almost always in the summer when I couldn’t escape my mother by being in school.

“It pissed my father off so bad ... not sure how he could have been raised by them. He’d accuse them of meddling in my life, spoiling me, encouraging my defiance, he’d be almost in a rage ... they’d just smile sadly, nod, and do what they were going to do anyway.”

“That’s the kind of grandfather I’d like to be,” Earl said. “God knows Margaret’s already there...”

“You will be, Papa Earl. I have faith in you.”

“Well if an angel believes it it must be true.”

Jason

They stepped off the jet into a bright Firenze winter day.

“I’m glad she let us know we should wear warm clothing,” Jason said.

“Yeah, this would be very unpleasant if we were still dressed for Hawaii,” Donna said.

Nocturnia and Ashley were talking with the security detail there to pick them up.

“That was the longest flight I ever want to be on,” Jason said. “Unless someone wants to bring back travel by airship ... that would be cool.”

“Okay folks, let’s get moving,” Nocturnia said. “Everyone has their carry-on, everyone hit the toilet before we landed?”

General sounds of agreement were the response.

“Let’s load ‘em up,” Ashley said.

“If it’s this pretty in winter, this is going to be gorgeous come summer,” Abby said.

“Let’s hope we’re still here then,” Jason said. “So, we’ll be gone by the time the next jet lands...”

“Yeah, and I guarantee their delays are making Parker and Tod more than a little batshit,” Donna laughed. “They’re going to hit the tarmac expecting treachery.”

“Can we tease them about that when they join us?” Jason said.

“I wouldn’t ... it would just be mean,” Abby said.

As they rode up into the hills, Jason thought about hiding out for another five or six months. He considered it kind of sad he no longer believed they might be out of danger before then.

Abby would be in her third trimester. If Yan wasn’t pregnant it wouldn’t be for lack of trying on either of their parts. No telling who else would be.

It would be a pain in the ass for anyone to come visit and the whole purpose of hiding would be ruined by them traveling to visit anyone. He missed Harry already. Thankfully Galena and the others were already on their way. It would be nice to see them for a couple of weeks. Hell, maybe longer if he could talk them into it.

“I’m just feeling unsettled,” he said to no one in particular.

“Understandable, husband,” Abby said. “We were uprooted in less than two days, traveled part of a third day.”

Jason smiled.

“Good reasons to feel unsettled.”

“When are you calling your Dad,” Donna said.

“I’ll take a few moments when we get to the villa, let him know we’re down and safe. Then once we get unpacked, what little we brought, it’s shower time.”

“What then?” Abby said.

“Then, it’s either sleep or sex.”

“I consider it sad I’m thinking it will be sleep,” Yan said. “Sleeping on the jet wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t comfortable either. It was somewhere in a ‘meh’ middle.”

“So, the others will arrive sometime in the next two hours, the rest of our stuff gets here even later today, and Galena lands around midnight?” Donna said.

“Maybe we’ll all be able to have brunch tomorrow?” Jason said. “Hell, let’s plan for that. Brunch on Sunday. ‘Llita, how’s that sound to you?”

“I’ll be ready, Sir,” she said.

“Then semi-formal cocktail hour and supper,” Jason said.

“Galena and crew aren’t going to have semi-formal wear,” Abby said.

“Then it will be casual but with our Sunday-Go-To-Meeting manners,” Jason replied. “We can get them properly attired next week.”

“As for sex?” Yan asked.

“At some point in the very near future I’m going to have my tongue so far up Mama G’s ass I’ll be licking her tonsils from below,” Jason said.

“You do that,” Donna said. “I’m planning on wearing every woman in her party’s pussy as a face mask...”

“I’ve also got dates with Monica, Walter, Sandy...” Jason said.

“Don’t forget Susan,” Abby said.

“Oh, did you see Georgia’s eyes when we milked Abby and Mohini?” Donna said. “I think she’d come and play if the offer was made...”

“And you want to wear her pussy on your face,” Jason laughed. “If you’re serious, I’m sure Madam Gao would assign her to Villa di Santa Sofia, although what she’d do there I have no idea.”

“Get fucked a lot is what she’d do,” Donna said. “Although I’d be very disappointed if the carpet didn’t match the drapes.”

“Why, wife, I believe you’re hungry for red-heads...” Jason said...

“Only females. For some reason red-headed guys gross me out.”

“Odd but okay. We’ll see about adding one to our company because...” Jason said, “why the fuck not?”

“Thank you for the offer, Jason. I do appreciate it, and your family is tempting in so many ways. Problem is, I like my life as a flight attendant for Plum Blossom.”

“Well, my wives will be disappointed, as will I, but I understand.

“Just a question though,” Jason continued, “not a threat or anything...”

“Sounds ominous,” Georgia laughed.

“If Madam Gao assigned you to us?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Jason.”

“Okay...”

“I’d ask for a healthy raise, and provided Madam Gao agreed, I’d join your family.”

“The healthy raise was supposed to upset me?”

“It might’ve.”

“Well, I think you should get the raise anyway,” Jason said. “When I talk to Madam Gao next, I’ll tell her so. And that’s all I’ll tell her concerning you.”

“Thank you, Jason.”

Galena

If she wasn’t careful, she was going to lose her shit on someone in her group. None of them deserved it.

The real targets of her anger didn’t deserve it either. Not really. The most they were guilty of was doing things the way they always had.

Her general dissatisfaction had found its source while talking with Sandalwood’s Mistress Dragonaria.

The Grimes handled Chorale’s business the way they always had ... by themselves. Sandalwood’s Dommes had very rarely been consulted. Galena and the other younger Dommes had never been consulted. All that was decided came down to the lesser Dommes as holy writ from on high.

Hell, Magda and Lori were married to them and often weren’t brought in on decisions.

Galena had no doubt she should have spoken up, should have said something before her anger and resentment got so large she couldn’t imagine broaching the subject without it turning into a screaming match. But there was always a crisis or the Grimes were out of town for a honeymoon or a more distant crisis.

Sandalwood was so irritated that if there were an easy way to untangle their affairs from Chorale they would have done so already. But Sandalwood had a lot of money invested in relocating both themselves and their business to Chorale South. Dragonaria was of the opinion they’d split off, remain allies, but become their own House again.

Galena loved the Grimes, all of them. But she wanted a seat at the table and felt disappointed at how the Grimes were deciding everything and issuing orders-phrased-as-requests to Dommes completely left out of the decision making process.

She knew she was very inexperienced, but a necessary part of gaining experience was being included in the decision-making process. Galena had heard complaints how everyone wanted experienced job applicants and no one wanted to take a chance and give employees that experience.