Chapter 5

“Great Hestia, Goddess of Hearth and Home, I pray to You to bless this new companion and brother of ours, Silvio Forza, a young man in need of our fellowship and Your Providence. I pray to you to bless this meal that I have prepared in his honor, humble though it may be. May it nourish his spirit as well as his body, in Your Name.

“May we all shower him with the love, guidance, protection, provision, and comfort that he needs, just as we have for others. May we treat him as restored family, not as a stranger, for there are no strangers, as all come from Zeus,” Mother Hannah surprised me with an outright prayer and invocation to a long forgotten (by most folks, anyway) Greek Goddess.

“Amen,” was all I could say in response.

“Welcome to the family, Silvio. Especially now that you’re Jessie’s intended. You’ll treat her well, I am confident, just as she will treat you. As far as everyone else here is concerned now, that is your baby in her womb, even though we know that isn’t technically true. Best not to leave any doubts as to custody and parental rights, wouldn’t you agree?” Mother Hannah now addressed me directly for the first time.

“Thank you ... and yes, I agree. Whoever the actual sire was, I’m its Daddy now. I never expected to get engaged so quickly, and while damn near a virgin. My only sexual encounters have been very sparse in the past, if you don’t count the unwanted kind. I lost my true anal cherry to Cam, but the rest of it ... well, to a flight attendant on the way here. She learned that I was a virgin, strictly speaking, and couldn’t resist changing that for me. I just hope that it didn’t cost her that job,” I blushed a bit now.

“It didn’t, and even if it did, she’ll be fine. That wasn’t just any flight attendant. That was one that I somewhat ... encouraged to take care of the matter. I paid her in advance to do it. In case you crashed, I didn’t want you to die rid of only one cherry. I didn’t want your only experience with women to be pegging, either. Or oral, for that matter.

“Think about it. How likely was it that a flight attendant these days would so casually initiate a young male virgin into the Mile High Club? I owed it to you ... and to your father’s memory, you see. If she does get fired, I told her that she can always come here, which she can actually do, anyway, and frankly I hope that she does. Sweet girl, the lovely Vigdis Magnussdottir from Keflavik, Iceland,” Cam stunned me with that bit of news.

“True confession time. We all intended for you to marry Jessie Adams from the moment that Cam told us about you. We just had to get you on board with it, and we didn’t want you to get here a virgin, anyway. That wouldn’t do. By the way, I know all about the little team that is exacting retribution on your vicious uncle, mother, etc.

“I’m sort of their handler, well, Cam and me, which is another reason that we haven’t moved in here yet ... the operative word being yet, of course. Shocking, I know, since I’m a judge, but there it is,” Judge Elizabeth Maitland really shook me up with that announcement.

“Wow, that’s some epic, Star Chamber-level vigilante justice! I half-expect Hal Holbrook or Michael Douglas to walk into the room now,” I chuckled at this news.

“Someone has kidnapped justice and hidden it in the law. Yeah, I remember. Great film. Wrong conclusion in one sense at least. Some folks have managed to make themselves above the law, so the law cannot, by definition, reach them. It takes a much stronger medicine to purge them from society. That’s people like James Adams and your Uncle Alois. Desperate times. Drastic measures,” the judge explained, making an alarming amount of sense.

I saw the pained look on Jessica’s face from remembering her “late, unlamented brother,” of course. Yeah, just as I thought, he was a very sensitive subject. Like any sister, she loved her brother on some level, yet she could never walk or breathe free of him while he drew a breath himself. In any case, the immediate threat that he posed to the family had to be removed, and evidently, in so doing, the precedent was set.

“So, in a nutshell, they’re going to ... punish my uncle, Frank Castle-style or something. You know, the Punisher? And this ... punishment can be pretty brutal,” I commented.

“In one sense, this got started before James Adams, and that punishment was less severe than death. Just ask Camille and Melissa some time about that part. Or a certain defrocked preacher, for that matter. It just didn’t lead to lethal force until James. Again, the fewer details and people that you know about ... other than Lizzie and I, the better. And we have something to lose that would naturally make us very quiet about it, you know. We have a vested interest in omerta, silence,” Cam observed as Lizzie smiled savagely and I nodded.

“As an Italian guy raised up with Mafia stereotypes and movies, I certainly grasp that concept!” I chuckled for my part as I dug into the delicious turkey sandwich known as a “hot brown,” which appeared to be a uniquely Kentuckian dish.