Chapter 6

When Cathy and I decided to get married, our lives became even more hectic than they had been. We had been busy dealing with our expanding sets of abilities, supporting our lawsuit, finding a place to live, starting full-time professions, and establishing ourselves as a couple. Planning and preparing for a wedding added to those endeavors. I was flabbergasted at the volume of details necessary for the two of us to stand in front of a minister and say ‘I DO.’

Over the next two months, Art, Dad, and I became the three musketeers. Our ladies were so involved with the details of the wedding, that it felt as if the three of us were bachelors who had to care for themselves.

Actually, it wasn’t quite that bad. Cathy and I spent a good bit of time together, but most of it was spent working on learning to control our abilities with only a small portion of our time dedicated to developing our personal relationship. Of course to some degree our mental link meant we were constantly involved in each other’s activities.

Finding a place to rent was no longer a problem. Art and Mary decided to give us a house as a wedding present. Now our problem was to find a suitable house. We quickly realized that finding a house to buy was even more time intensive and complex than finding an apartment. After all, you can always move out of an apartment, if you don’t like it or your neighbors.

Our folks told us that in considering what we needed in a house, we needed to keep in mind babies expanding our family, the need for a good school district, travel distances and traffic to and from work, shopping, upkeep of the property, and a hundred other things. With those, on top of everything else, we felt overloaded.

In addition to our jobs and making wedding plans, Cathy and I had enrolled in correspondence courses through a highly rated, out of state college. The course work was designed for people who had full-time jobs, so there were no deadlines. We were able to fit our studying around our day jobs and personal lives.

Harold contacted us to let us know that our former college’s lawyer, Thomas Conner, wanted to speak with us about settling the lawsuit out of court. The next morning we met with Mister Conner in Harold’s office.

“Ward, Cathy, I believe the two of you know Mister Conner.”

“Yes, we met in the Dean’s office.”

“Good,” Harold said, “we can start this meeting with Mister Conner making his presentation. I will then ask him to wait in the reception room, while we discuss his offer. When we reach a decision, we will reconvene and talk further.”

Mister Conner leaned forward in his chair and began his presentation.

“The Chancellor had me conduct an investigation into the grounds for your lawsuit. Based on my findings, the college has fired the manager of the Student Housing Department. We feel that there may be some justification for a degree of compensation for what has happened to the two of you. After reviewing the situation, the Chancellor has decided to offer each of you a cash settlement of two hundred thousand dollars, which includes all costs you incurred in fixing up the apartment, moving, and the refund of your tuition fees. Please be aware that the college is not admitting any wrongdoing in making this offer.”

Harold asked Mister Conner if he would wait in the reception room, while the three of us discussed the college’s offer.

Harold began with, “Their offer is more than the minimum settlement you indicated as acceptable, but I feel the settlement is on the low side of fair. However, there are no guarantees as to what your award will be if we go to court. But, I believe your total compensation will be a good bit higher if we go to court. If you choose to go to court, then it will take a year or more to resolve the case.”

I said, “For me, my primary concern was to obtain justice for how we were treated. The money was a secondary issue, as long as it covered the costs we incurred and our tuition.”

Cathy said, “I basically agree with Ward, but the Student Housing Manager wasn’t the only one who treated us improperly. What is happening with the information we had you give the state and federal authorities? If they will be bringing charges in the future, I am willing to accept the college’s offer.”

Harold called his contact in the state’s Attorney General’s Office and learned that the state and federal authorities were coordinating their activities and planned to move in on the college next week. They would be seizing various records for review. His contact informed him that the state and federal authorities had already targeted at least three individuals for various violations of state and federal law. Harold’s contact also believed that others would be facing charges.

Once Harold explained the status of the investigation to us, we decided that since the offending parties would soon be in a great deal of hot water, we would accept the college’s offer, if the college would pay our attorney fees to include the cost of the detective agency.

Harold explained the situation to his secretary. He had her contact the detective agency to terminate any further investigative efforts that may be underway and to determine the amount of the pending charges for their services. He told her to add two hours of his time and three hours of her time as today’s charges and to provide him with the total amount we owed the law firm. She came back into the office after ten minutes. She informed him that there were no investigations in process and she had confirmed they had already received the detective agency’s final bill. She then provided him with a sheet of paper with the amount we owed Harold’s firm. He instructed her to prepare an invoice billing the college for the services rendered to us, which included the cost of the detective agency. He also directed her to prepare an agreement for the college to pay the invoice.

Harold asked Mister Conner to rejoin us in his office.

Once everyone was settled, Harold said, “My clients have agreed to accept the college’s settlement offer providing the college will pay for the costs they incurred as a result of bringing the lawsuit.

“I had my secretary determine the current amount they owe this firm for the services we have rendered to include the cost of the detective agency we used to gather supporting evidence for the lawsuit.”

With that, Harold gave Mister Conner the sheet of paper indicating the amount we owed. The lawyer accepted our counter offer. He removed two cashier’s checks and the settlement agreements from his briefcase.

Harold read the agreements then passed each of us our agreement to read and sign. After reading and signing the agreements, we gave them back to Harold. Harold’s secretary came back into the office and gave him the invoice and agreement. Harold glanced at them and passed them to Mister Conner.

The lawyer reviewed the invoice and then read and signed the agreement to pay our fees. He gave the papers to Harold. Harold had his secretary make copies of all the documents, so we would each have a copy. After distributing the original documents and the copies to the appropriate people, Mister Conner presented the settlement checks to Cathy and me.

The sequence was confusing to me at the time, and I may have remembered things out of order, but the two lawyers controlled the sequence and knew who should get the originals and who should get the copies.

After Mister Conner left, I asked Harold to have lunch with us, but he declined due to a prior luncheon appointment. Cathy and I had lunch together then went to our workplaces.

That night we took our parents out to dinner to celebrate the settlement of the lawsuit. Our upcoming wedding was two weeks away, and that was the main topic of conversation for the evening.

Part way through dinner, Art asked, “How’s your house search going?”

Cathy replied, “It sort of bogged down, Dad. Ward and I talked about why it bogged down and decided, we really aren’t ready to be homeowners at this point in our lives. We decided to rent a small apartment for a year or so, and when we are ready to start a family, we will reconsider home ownership.”

Art said, “Well if you aren’t comfortable with owning a house now, it is probably best for the two of you to wait to find a home.”

He told us that he and Mary would buy us a house when we were ready as a delayed wedding present.”

Before getting side tracked by Art and Mary offering to buy us a house as a wedding present, we had located a small apartment that met our needs. It was still available, so we signed a one-year lease and moved in.

Two weeks after receiving our settlement, Cathy and I were married. The wedding and reception were both medium-sized affairs. Art and Mary invited their friends, associates, and a number of their long-term clients to the wedding and reception. Of course, my twenty some relatives, our friends, and family showed up to celebrate our nuptials and wish us a happy future. Altogether, there were about a hundred and fifty guests.

Art and Mary gave us four weeks in the Cayman Islands as an interim wedding present. Between the ocean, beaches, and hiking, Cathy and I returned tanned and rested.

During the next three months, Cathy and I settled back into our jobs, and our supervisors were happy with our performances. We continued to work on our correspondence courses deciding to wait until shortly before the start of the next academic year to make a decision about returning to college.

We had become friends with several of the married couples we met at college. It seemed to us that we would still be persona non grata on college property, so they would stop by the apartment to socialize with us. We found it interesting to discuss the coursework that we were completing with our friends who were taking the same classes through the college. We enjoyed discussing the minor differences in curriculum.

Everything was proceeding smoothly for us at work and with our correspondence courses when Cathy got sick. It was just a very bad case of the flu, but we weren’t aware that it threw her hormones out of balance. As a result, her birth control pills failed, and within a week of her recovering from her illness, she was pregnant. We learned of the pregnancy about six weeks later when Cathy started to have morning sickness. I experienced her feelings over our link; and you can believe me, it was unpleasant to say the least.

We thought back and recalled a very special night of lovemaking that had occurred about six weeks ago. We decided our child was conceived when we made love that night. It had been a Saturday night and Cathy had been exceptionally attentive in a physical way. I was feeling a very intense and powerful sense of masculinity and arousal.

Our link makes lovemaking different from what other people have described to us. Our link allows us to experience the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that the other was experiencing. It can get very intense when we are in tune to each other as we were that night.

I can remember the exceptionally strong feelings of need that built in Cathy as I stroked her breasts and caressed her ear lobes. Her thoughts of how large and hard my cock felt really turned me on. Our link also allowed her to feel what I felt as my cock slid in and out of her vagina. To this day, the awe in her mind about how she could give so much pleasure to her man still arouses me.

Cathy rolled on to her back pulling me on top of her. She was mentally pleading with me to fill her with my cock. Instead, I slid down her body pausing at her navel. French kissing her navel and spreading kisses and tongue laves across her abdomen always increased Cathy’s passion to a fever pitch. As her passion rose, so did mine. The emotions and physical feelings passing across our link inflamed both of us.

Finally, I slid down between her legs and caressed the lips of her pussy. As my tongue worked deeper into her and stroked upward, I could feel my tongue pass over her clit. The pleasure that created in our minds caused us to both release a long low moan of passion. Cathy spread her legs apart even wider to give me better access. She planted her feet firmly on the bed, so she could thrust her pussy upward onto my hard pointed tongue. We both were overwhelmed by our passion. It was her sensing the pain of her mons bruising my lips that stopped her rapid thrusts. I was so far gone that I hardly noticed the pain for to me it seem to be nothing more than a slight ache.

I sensed her apology for getting carried away as she grasped my arms and pulled me up so she could ravage my bruised lips. Cathy sent demand after demand into my mind for me to fill her and satisfy her need. I thrust into her and the feelings of being surrounded by her hot, wet passage were overwhelming to both of us. We were both feeling the overwhelming pressure of my cock forcing its way up that wet fleshy passage, spreading it open as I my cock penetrated deeply into Cathy’s body.

We lost control and surrendered to the primal urges of a male and female mating. We thrust our hips together and our pubic bones ground against each other. Our senses merged until we could no longer tell who owned what. To me it seemed as if my chest was rubbing against my chest and inflaming my breasts. My cock stroked my clit. My arousal became Cathy’s arousal and hers became mine. When our semen released, Cathy screamed that she was coming in me. We became one in a way that people who do not share a link will never understand.

Eventually we collapsed in exhaustion and slept secure in each other’s arms. However, just before we slept, we both felt a very unusual sensation in Cathy’s abdomen. We believed that was the moment our child was conceived.

Neither of us had expected a pregnancy, so we discussed our becoming parents in a little over seven months and we started to become excited. We invited our parents to have dinner with us after work the next day, and during dinner, we told them they would be grandparents shortly.

Engagements, weddings and babies seem to set off women’s planning instincts, but I don’t think I will ever be able to determine which generates the most activity. Since my mom would be more involved, I thought that the baby activities would exceed the wedding activities, which had exceeded the engagement activities.

Mary and my mom started in with how they just had to take Cathy and me to a darling shop in a neighboring town that Saturday. There was so much to do that they just had to get started. I think that it was just the newness of the situation. The looks on Art and my dad’s faces confirmed my suspicion – the three musketeers will ride again.

Mom got a major letdown when Dad reminded her that they had an out-of-town appointment on Saturday. She told Mary and Cathy to go ahead without her, and she would go with them the next time. The rest of the night was devoted to the ladies making plans for shopping. The three musketeers just sat there listening to the ladies. Dad teased Art and I about being dragged along that Saturday as pack mules, and we responded that his turn was coming.

The next several days passed quickly, and I learned that the trip the ladies were planning was to look at baby furniture. They didn’t intend to buy anything yet, just window shop.

Cathy knew that I had gotten a bit behind in writing a paper for one of my courses, and I wanted to complete it as soon as I could. She suggested that I work on my paper instead of going with them. Cathy knew that looking at baby furniture wasn’t my idea of a pleasant day. I agreed with her suggestion for we knew we were going to be very busy the following week.

Saturday morning Art and Mary arrived for breakfast, and after we had eaten, Art kidded me about abandoning him to a fate worse than death.

Our wives didn’t appreciate the comment. The three of them left on their shopping trip.

I went to work on the paper that I was writing for I wanted to complete it by Sunday evening.

I became engrossed in writing the paper and was surprised when Cathy contacted me over our link that it was already 5:00 o’clock. She informed me that they had finished shopping for the day and were stopping for dinner before driving back home. She proceeded to tell me about the neat things they now had for babies. After we finished our conversation, I went down to the corner to get Chinese take-out for a combined lunch and dinner. I returned to writing my paper as I ate.

About two hours later, I felt Cathy’s activity fade out on our link. I thought she must have ‘shopped until she dropped’ and fallen asleep on the way home. It was about twenty minutes later that I felt our link start to weaken. No activity was normal when one of us was asleep. However, the link weakening concerned me for that had never happened since it was first created.

I couldn’t link with Cathy, and she did not answer her cell phone when I called her, so I called Art and then Mary’s phone. No one answered, which was very unusual.

I was starting to worry that something happened to them. I waited a few minutes and called again. A strange voice answered my call. I explained that I was trying to reach my wife and asked if she was there. The voice identified himself as a police officer. He asked me for my wife’s name and to describe her and the car she was driving. Now I was really worried. I explained that she was with her parents in her dad’s car. I gave him their names and described them and the car.

The police office told me that he had bad news for me. There had been an accident. Art and Mary were dead, and Cathy was enroute to a local hospital for treatment. The police officer knew she was injured seriously, but was not sure of the extent of her injuries. He also told me where she had been taken.

I grabbed my jacket and started for my car when our link died. My first thought was that Cathy was dead, but I wasn’t sure for I could still feel her in my mind, just as if the link were still functioning. I tried to link with Cathy, but got no response.

When I got to the hospital, the emergency room was extremely busy. I heard talk of fog causing a massive pileup on the highway and assumed that Art had been in that accident. I was finally able to find a nurse who had a moment to speak with me. I told her who I was, gave her Cathy’s name, and told her Cathy had been brought in earlier in serious condition. She asked me to describe Cathy, which I did. Then the nurse asked me to wait, so she could find Cathy’s doctor.

Several minutes later, I saw the nurse point a doctor in my direction. The doctor told me that a woman similar to my description of Cathy had been brought in earlier, but died on the operating table. He asked if I would be willing to look at the deceased woman to determine if it was Cathy. I did so, and it was Cathy.

I broke down and cried. The doctor took me to the hospital’s chapel so I could have some privacy. I sat there crying. After a few minutes, a man who identified himself as the hospital’s chaplain joined me. The chaplain sat and talked with me until I recovered some of my emotional control. He had to leave me for another doctor had shown a teenager, who appeared to be in shock, and a hysterical woman into the chapel.