Chapter 12

Ed woke to an empty house. It wasn’t that his relationship with Kelly was failing, it was that Beth’s new living arrangement didn’t require her to stay there every night. Kelly was slowly getting some of her life back and needed the time away from Ed. This wasn’t a problem for Ed as it gave him a couple of evenings a week to work on his homework.

The one major improvement that Kelly had made to the house, was a coffee pot on a timer. Stumbling out of the bedroom, he appreciated that addition as it meant he didn’t have to navigate the brewing process first thing in the morning. Today, it was hot and ready to drink. He poured himself a cup and went into the living room.

As he drank his coffee, he looked across the street and was surprised to see a huge RV parked there with John sitting in it. Deciding to investigate, he headed out the front door and waved to John.

John stepped out of the RV and crossed the street. He waved and called out, “Hi, Ed.”

“Hello, John. How’s she doing today?”

“I don’t know. She’s still strange.”

Ed pointed to the RV and asked, “So who’s your visitor?”

John smiled as he answered, “Lily. She’s another servant of the Goddess. She’s a healer.”

Ed looked at John with a funny expression. He had long ago made the connection between John’s medallion and his service to the Goddess. He pointed to John’s chest and asked, “You mean she has one of those?”

John nodded, not surprised that Ed had figured out about the medallion. Needing some coffee in a big way, John asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have some coffee, would you?”

“Sure. Come on over.”

It wasn’t long before they were sitting in Ed’s living room drinking coffee. John decided to bring up a topic that hadn’t been discussed since the day they all went to the university. He asked, “How’s Kelly taking all of this?”

“Not very well. She’s been very upset about Beth.”

“Does she still want Beth as a wife?”

Ed looked out the window for a minute thinking about it. Kelly had not talked about that subject for several weeks now. Each time she saw Beth, some small part of her died. Ed answered, “Well, she hasn’t talked about it, lately. As far as I know, she still wants Beth for her wife. I think she feels guilty right now. She’s afraid that she’ll take advantage of Beth’s condition.”

“I can understand that. I’m terrified that I’m abusing her in some fashion.”

Understanding exactly what John was going through, Ed said, “Do you know how hard it was when I watched over her while you were gone? She was running around naked and all I could think of was ‘doing it’ with her.”

“Tell me about it.”

Ed and Kelly had discussed this topic several times and she had offered to sleep with John. The fact was, she was hoping that John might want to be her second husband.

Ed laughed as he said, “You must have the worst case of blue balls in the world. Why don’t you come over here and visit Kelly sometime?”

John shook his head and answered, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea right now. Speaking of Kelly, any idea who she’s identified as a second husband?”

Ed blushed, realizing that he didn’t want to tell John that John was Kelly’s choice for a second husband. It felt very awkward talking about this with John, since John might understand that Kelly insisted that the two husbands have sex with each other. He couldn’t look John in the eye as he answered, “You ask tough questions. I think you’ll have to ask her.”

John looked puzzled for a moment and then the light went off in his head. He was the prospective husband. To cover any possible case, he said, “Well, if it’s the person that I think it is, then you two will have to move very slow. Can’t really offer until Beth is better.”

Ed was relieved, since he really didn’t know how to broach the subject with John. It was difficult for him to imagine John being interested in them, but Kelly thought differently. He answered, “That’s our thinking.”

John nodded and said “Wise move. I guess I had better get out to the RV and wait for Lily. I have no idea how long this is going to take.”

Ed wondered how good this Lily person might be at helping Beth. Beth was in pretty bad shape emotionally. He asked, “Do you think that she is going to help?”

“If anyone can, Lily can. I met Lily over four years ago. I didn’t call her, she came here. She didn’t even know I was here until she pulled up in front of the house. Something called to her and she came.”

“Wow!”

The way that John talked about the Gods and Goddesses bothered Ed at one time, but he had seen how John would be driven at times to leave to perform some service. In a few cases, John’s activities had made the news. Once he had located a little girl that had been lost in the wilderness for three days. If this woman had been called to heal Beth, then it was a very good chance that Beth would be healed.

John returned to the RV while Ed prepared for his final exams. Two more finals, and this semester would be over. The last final would be for his calculus course, and that was the one that worried him the most. He had not had to resort to a tutor for that course, but had worked through the material in his own stubborn way. For every hour that he spent on other courses, he spent four hours on calculus.

With his last final over, Ed decided to treat himself to lunch in a small place off campus before heading home. The final exam had been much easier than he had thought it would be and he had breezed through it without a problem. All of his classes had been a little easier than he had anticipated.

As he walked over to the restaurant, he noticed a woman who looked just like Rosa walking down the street towards him. He wondered what to do if it was Rosa. Even now, Rosa didn’t like him and tended to walk in a direction to avoid him whenever she saw him. The woman was about half a block away when a small guy stepped out in front of her. A look of real fear spread across her face as she recognized the man.

As he neared the pair, he could see that the man had a knife and was waving it in front of the woman. Looking around, all he could find as a weapon was a trashcan lid. He picked it up and approached the man from the rear. When he was close enough to identify that it was Rosa, he heard the man say, “Cunt, you’re coming back to work for me.”

Ed had no idea what he was talking about, but he didn’t like the tone of voice or the fact that he was waving a knife around. In a loud voice, Ed said, “She already has a job.”

The man spun around to say something, but Ed swung the trashcan lid on edge connecting solidly with the man’s face. The man went down like a log. Since the man was still holding the knife, Ed smashed the heel of his boot on the hand leaving it a bloody mess.

As the man rolled around on the ground, Ed looked down at him and said, “You need to learn how to treat a lady nicely. She’s a friend of mine and I won’t tolerate her being treated that way.”

Rosa stared at Ed and then at the man on the ground, not knowing what to do. Ed picked the man up off the ground. Blood was running from his nose and his hand was a bloody mess. Pointing across the street, Ed said, “There’s a clinic over there. I suggest you go there at once and let them patch you up.”

Angered, the man spat out, “I’m going to kill you.”

In a very serious tone of voice, Ed said, “No you’re not. You know that I could have killed you and didn’t. You owe your life to me, and that is a debt of honor. You will leave Rosa and me alone. Now go across the street and get some medical attention.”

The man stared at Ed, shocked that he had made it a point of honor, then headed across the street.

Turning to face Rosa, Ed said, “I think it would be best if we didn’t discuss this with anyone.”

Embarrassed at having a part of her past exposed to Ed, Rosa mutely agreed, “Yes, thank you...”

Smiling down at Rosa, he said, “I was about to celebrate having taken my last final of the semester with a seafood lunch. I would be most honored if you would join me. Of course, I would understand if you need to return home.”

Uncertain what she should do, she decided that the best thing would be to thank him by accepting his invitation. Now that he knew more about her past, she was afraid that he would spread it around town. Maybe by going with him to lunch she could find a way to keep him from talking about it. She answered, “Okay.”

Deciding that it would be best not to touch Rosa and concern her more, Ed pointed down the street to the restaurant there. He said, “It’s just over there.”

Walking side by side, Rosa kept glancing at Ed out of the corner of her eye. Although he had just rescued her, she still didn’t trust him. She kept waiting for him to say something or make a demand of her. How many times had she traded sex for things that she needed? She was just a reformed whore and her pimp had tried to bring her back into the business. Why did she have to come back here to visit Annie? She knew the answer to that question. Almost a year without the touch of another woman had driven her to seek out her former lover.

Noticing how quiet Rosa was, Ed decided to try to engage her in conversation. He said, “This past few months have been the toughest of my life. I never realized how difficult it was to go to college.”

Rosa glanced at him and said, “If it’s so tough, then why are you going?”

“Because I love every minute of it,” replied Ed. He thought about the hours spent studying calculus and realized that even when it was most frustrating, he had been enthralled by the idea that he was learning something deeper about the world around him. He added, “It does tend to eat into the time that I can spend with my girlfriend, but she understands. I’m so lucky to have her in my life.”

This was a very unexpected conversation to have with Ed. She asked, “You like your girlfriend?”

“I love my girlfriend. I’ve asked her to marry me and she’s accepted,” replied Ed. He didn’t want to explain about the extra husband and wife that was part of the marriage package.

“I didn’t know that things had developed to that level,” replied Rosa. The idea of Ed in love was so foreign to her mental image of Ed that this was more surprising than anything. She asked, “So why did you invite me to lunch?”

The question made Ed laugh. He said, “I just finished my last final of the semester and felt like celebrating. I was on my way there and saw you. I just figured it would be nice sharing my joy with someone that I know.”

Share his joy? She thought it was more like sharing her bed. She sighed and decided to accept the inevitable. Shoulders slumping, she said, “Okay. I guess I can understand that.”

Realizing that she was dreading this, Ed stopped and turned to Rosa. He said, “Rosa, I know you don’t like me. If you would prefer to go home, I would understand. There’s no reason for you to be with someone that you don’t like.”

Biting back her tears, she answered, “You’ll tell people back home what happened here.”

Sorry that Rosa had such a low opinion of him, Ed replied, “Rosa, the only thing that happened here was some guy threatened you with a knife and I stopped him. I would rather not talk about that in town. People are already talking about me enough. All I want is to be left alone.”

Hardly able to believe him, Rosa said, “You aren’t going to ask me to sleep with you?”

Puzzled, Ed asked, “Why would I do that?”

“Because you found out that I used to be a whore, damn it!” Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw her future at home destroyed.

“And I used to be a bully and a bigot. We are both trying to leave our pasts behind. I figure that makes us birds of a feather. Rather than fight, I suggest we help each other,” replied Ed.

In relief, Rosa grabbed Ed in a hug and cried. Never in her life had she expected such understanding from the man she had feared most. Even her pimp had not been able to make her feel as afraid as Ed. The pimp had bullied her for money, but Ed had bullied her for fun.

For his part, Ed decided it was time to carry a spare handkerchief. If he was going to have so many women crying on his shoulder, he needed something to dry those tears. When she finally pulled back, he said, “Now let’s go celebrate my last day of finals and putting our pasts behind us. We’re almost to the restaurant and I’m starving.”

Smiling weakly, Rosa went with him. The restaurant was full and the service was slow, but the time was spent talking. Rosa listened as Ed talked about his rocks and how he had collected them over the years. It was incredible to her that this man had hidden that interest from everyone for so long and was now discussing it with her. It was about three quarters of the way through the meal that Rosa realized that he had not looked at her ample breasts once. He listened to her attentively, asking questions that made sense.

As the meal came to an end, Ed asked, “What are your plans for the future?”

For such a long time, Rosa had not thought about that question. The past few years had been spent hiding from her past, keeping a low profile at home. She answered, “Do you promise that you won’t laugh?”

“Of course.”

She said, “I would like to get married to a nice man that understands some of my needs and have children.”