Chapter 28

At 9:25 Sunday morning, I stood on the steps of the condo complex waiting for my ride. A familiar metallic orange Charger glided around the corner.

“Morning, Jason.”

“Good morning, Ed,” I responded after closing the car door.

She looked great. Edna had on a touch of makeup and a smile, enhanced by gorgeous deep red lipstick that set everything off and brighten her face.

“Can you tell me your family’s names again?” I asked once we were on the road. I received the rendition along with a family tree of who was who.

“I read an interesting article online today.” More than one actually, there were hundreds about me. Probably thousands, but I drew the line at real news sources.

“The one that asked how you got so strong?”

“That’s the one.”

“I liked the one that suggests that you are the new James Bond.” Dark blue eyes regarded me at the traffic light after revealing that little tidbit.

“I’m certainly no secret agent. I’ve never even fired a gun or wore a tux.”

“You’re twenty-seven and never fired a gun?” I thought she was going to say something about the tux.

“Nope, never even held one.”

“Why no tux?”

I shrugged, “I’ve had a few friends get married. Never stood up in any of them.”

“That’s surprising. Two of the couples you introduced me to were married and not that long ago. Maybe two years at the most. You all seem close. What about prom or school dances?”

“Never went. Couldn’t afford to.” The question would come soon ... it always did.

“Didn’t you say your parents were retired in Hawaii? Hawaii is not cheap and they can’t be that old.”

“No, it isn’t.” My reply was neutral. I was never able to speak of my parents with a light tone. Mother especially.

Sensing something from my attitude, she retreated a step, “Are you willing to tell me about your parents? You never speak about them or anything before you got hurt in college.”

“My parents are both accountants. They believed that everything has a price and all prices must be paid and all sheets must be balanced.”

“How did that affect you growing up?”

“Food, clothes, books, beds, sheets, pillows, cars, football gear, all cost money. Why should they pay for them, if they weren’t going to personally use them?”

“You’re not kidding, are you? How old were you?”

“Six. Three-percent interest added annually. Not compounded, they spared me that.”

“How did you afford college?”

“I earned a Programming scholarship to Northwestern. I also had a side job after I got injured. When I was twelve, I started mowing lawns. Sixty-hours a week during the summers.”

“And if you wanted money, you had to borrow it and they added to the bill. Plus interest?”

“Yes.”

“Have you paid them off?”

“Two years ago. I used to live in an apartment with four other guys. No cable, just internet split five ways. I had two jobs lined up the day after graduation.”

“Do you still talk to them?”

“Haven’t since I moved out, the only reason I knew their address was to make payments.”

“Christmas and birthday?” She was trying not to sound appalled and failed.

“I received a twenty-dollar gift at four, five, and six.”

“Oh, Jason...”

“I was healthy, fed, and my needs were met. They had no guarantee that I would pay them back. I was a minor and they could not enforce the loans I took or the money they spent on me. I moved out the day after I graduated from high school and think I have done pretty well for myself. I paid them back as soon as I could, as a thank you.”

“What about affection.”

“There wasn’t any in my family. My parents made a business deal and had a child to get their trust funds.”

“Anyone else in your family?”

“Not that I ever met.”

“What about their parents, or brothers and sisters?”

“Not that I ever met.”

“Haven’t you ever looked?”

“Never had a reason to.” They never looked for me.

She, like pretty much everyone that learned my history, couldn’t relate. I understood their thoughts, for the most part. There were even friends of mine that tried to search out my parent’s relatives behind my back. Dead end. They concluded that my parents had changed their name and or erased their previous identities either before getting married or soon after.

All sorts of speculation abounded.

It still had nothing to do with me, nor would it change anything, even if some relatives were discovered to exist.

“You don’t care, do you?”

“Do you care about your bank?”

“Were you ever read to? Did they ever help with your homework? Bandage a knee?”

“My mother charged a hundred dollars an hour for tutoring or personal attention. Father charged two hundred. He held a higher position in the company they both worked at.”

“Do any of your friends have children?”

“No, Steve and Chris just started to try though, with luck they should in a year or so.”

What did that have to do with anything?

“Do you want children?”

“I think I do ... I am not sure how good a father I will be.”

“I think you will be fine. You took in three girls and helped them get through a rough time.”

I also took them into danger. Almost got them killed more than once. Our arrangement was not only one-sided. I had long admitted that to myself. I learned long ago that lying to myself was a recipe for ruination.

I-94 west traffic was light. It was still early enough, even for the weekend holiday travelers, that there wasn’t any congestion on the roads. The questions regarding my parents and their parenting methods disappeared completely. At least for now, I knew they would resurface eventually.

“My turn. What was with the jungle gym named Jason on the dance floor Friday night?”

“Didn’t you enjoy dancing with us?” An eerily similar question to the one Koz asked.

“I did. Both of you were fantastic, but I didn’t know that jungle gyms and dancing went together.”

“I think it’s time to step up. You do keep saying we need more people.”

“And you were using me as your poster boy?”

“Not just you. I put myself in those pictures with you.” She did. Almost every picture of me had at least two of the three of us in it.

“You could have told me.”

Laughing lightly, “Jason, you are a terrible actor.”

I pouted.

“I did tell Kate; that’s why she took that attitude Friday. With her two friends there, I thought they would have danced together a few times.”

“I didn’t know about her rectitude either. Neither Jude nor Nat seem to have problems dancing.”

“Who knows? Some days Kate acts like a ‘50s housewife.”

My eyes widened, that was Harsh (Note the capital ‘H’).

“Whole days at a time?”

“Weeks even. That girl needs to learn how to let her hair down.”

“Like your Jekyll and Hyde?” I had been meaning to ask about that for a while. “Beau is starting to think you have dissociative identity disorder.” (Two personalities in one brain.) The rest were just respectfully terrified of her.

“Work is work; play is play.”

And with me, she was even different than her play persona. Freer.

Hmm ... I had not thought about that last thought. She is Freer with me than anyone else I had seen.

“Don’t tell him. He’s half in love and half terrified of you. Mostly the latter.”

“He’s sweet, but not the one I like.” Emotions, I could not read or understand even if I could read, snuck out of her admission.

Bracing myself, “I like you too. But why does it feel like you are pushing Koz at me?”

“I’m just helping her pave the path where she wants to go.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Natasha is Air force Intelligence, correct?”

“Yes.”

“She was wearing an officer’s uniform, right?”

“Yes, and she had first Lieutenant’s bars on her shoulder.” I double-checked the ranks when I got home that night.

“Do you believe that she wasn’t ordered to get close to you.”

“No.” I didn’t like admitting it, but it was impossible not to consider.

“Do you think you can keep her out of your bed?”

“Yes.” I could.

I received a glowing smile for my quick response, “If I were not in the picture?”

“Probably not,” I admitted.

“Jason, do you want to keep her out of your bed?”

Startled, I froze. I had not expected that question.

“You are the healthiest man in the world. According to you, you have been working two jobs since you graduated at twenty-one. Working god knows how many hours, you have had little time for dating. Now an intelligent and beautiful woman shows up and is attracted to you. Then two. If both are willing, what’s the harm, right?”

“People get jealous.” I wasn’t suicidal.

“But you still want both of us in your bed. I bet you want us both at the same time, too.”

“Edna,” I warned.

“All alpha males in our world have multiple wives; Lions, wolves, gorillas, Humans, why not you?”

“Edna!” She was going too far with this.

“Tell me that you do not want to sleep with Kate.”

I blinked. Why did her name suddenly appear?

“I thought so. You just admitted that you would sleep with Natasha and those kisses say you want to sleep with me.”

“I can limit myself to one.”

“Jason, did you hear what you just said, ‘Can limit’? You are forcing yourself to choose just one of us.” She didn’t sound off or aggravated in the slightest. How, I had no clue.

“What do you want Edna?” I did not like the direction this conversation was going.

“Let’s wait and see what happens.”

“Aren’t you worried that one of the others will steal your place?”

“In your heart? Not a bit. In bed? It might happen once or twice or more.”

“I don’t get you,” I didn’t. I never heard of anyone with multiple girlfriends outside of fantasies.

“Natasha willingly accepted an assignment to be your lover. We all know it, we just don’t talk about it. She is not here to harm you, just to get a few secrets. She already knows your biggest secret. I doubt she would even report your other biggest secret.”

“Yeah.” I was beyond confused at her attitude.

I agreed with that supposition. Natasha didn’t bring any bugs or taps. Having a Security company, meant that they had detection devices and my place, along with Beau’s, got swept before our get-togethers. She, and the military by extension, only wanted what we gave. So far. They wanted friendly relations more than the information. The last gift was a strong sign of that. I also could be dead wrong on that supposition.

The General did most of all seemed to want ... I’m not sure what he wanted, but he wasn’t hostile. Hopefully, he wasn’t the only one.

He also gave me a gift, which I needed to still open.

“You like Natasha, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Yesterday turned out to be a lot of fun. I enjoyed her exhibitionism and teasing, her warmth, her intelligence and outright friendliness.

“She’s great, isn’t she? Her figure, her style, her ability, her brains.”

“Yes.” I was forced to admit aloud.

“Ability is just as important to you as the rest, isn’t it?”

I had to think about that.

“You could not date anyone that wasn’t a Hunter anymore, could you?”

“No.” That was pretty easy to answer.

“In a heated battle, would you trust her at your back?”

“Yes.” I saw where Ed was leading.

“Just because of her Skill?”

“No.” I followed, “Not just because of her Skill.”

“Your date yesterday must have been something. Friday night you didn’t trust her. Now you do.”

I blinked.

I wasn’t sure how much I trusted Koz, but, “A little more. Yeah.”

“I think you can trust her just as much as you do Francis, Christoff, and DB.” She knew I trusted Mat, and Beau higher than the rest of that crew. How she knew, I didn’t want to think about.

“You think so?”

“I do.”

“Dad won’t be there today, he’s in Singapore. He’ll see everyone when he returns in a month.”

Ed was the second oldest of four children. All of them were expected today with their respective families in tow. Of the four, Edna was the only one not married, and the youngest was expecting her first in November. Lucy married young at nineteen and was still attending Kentucky University for Chemical engineering.

The oldest, Roger, already had three children at 30. His eldest was celebrating her 10^th. The one other daughter, a year and a half younger than Ed, was whose house we were going to now. Ginny, don’t call her Virginia, also had three children at the age of twenty-five: one, three, and five.

I could add. Ed’s siblings all married young and began spawning as soon as they could. Some even before they tied the knot, apparently.

“Yes, Gin was quite plump when she wobbled down the aisle,” Ed grinned. “She gave birth to Darcy four months after they married.”

A score of kids, all girls, swarmed Ed’s Charger as we pulled up to the palatial estate. Todd, Ginny’s husband, did well for himself.

Then there were Ed’s cousins and aunts and uncles, all of whom had children.

A chorus, out of tune and sync, screamed, “Aunt Edna is here!” She had to coerce the little monsters to back off, so she could open the door. Me, I got the silent inspection. Well they weren’t silent, just not talking to me.

That was until two blonde preteens in matching purple sundresses came out and stared. Not at her, but at me. Whispering furiously together and then stalked me out, only to halt four feet away or so. Ed made her way to the trunk, ignoring my impending doom. She had presents and little monsters to appease.

“You’re the Black Axe, aren’t you?” The one on the left accused.

“Hi, I’m Jason.”

“Told you,” The same girl chastised her sister for not believing her.

I did not know their names.

“Who was the other girl you were dancing with?”

“A friend of your Aunt’s and mine. Can I have your names?”

“Alex and she’s Tanner.”

“Hi Alex and Tanner. Your Aunt needs help carrying in the presents.”

“No, she doesn’t, the munchkin swarm will do that. Dad wants to meet you.”

Looking back, it seemed that the swarm did indeed each have something in their hand. Edna didn’t even look in my direction as I was led away.

Too many names, too many people, too many children. All firsts for me. I was overwhelmed.

Ed didn’t help.

I wasn’t too pleased with that.

Roger was busy helping his younger sister setting up the children’s games. I received a brief inspection and a greeting, then a shunting off to meet the hostess’ husband with the girls as escorts.

Todd, being a good host did help settle me down. After offering me my choice of beers, he introduced me to the hordes of ‘Peters’, under the guise of giving me a tour of his house. Our host was in Finance; with a capital $. But could talk football and that was a language I spoke. His football was more fantasy–slanted, but I could do that too.

Edna around children was ... sublime...

If Beau saw her here with them, he would want to have her committed. Or lock himself inside those same rubber walls for protection from her.

Myself, I was getting a better view of what made Edna Olivia Peters tick.

“My sister is quite a woman, isn’t she?” Roger joined Todd and me. The twins were not twins, but second cousins. Only one of those preteen girls were his. Of the fifty adults, more than half had children and all but five were under fifteen years of age. One had a Weapon and was not allowed to run in Portals.