Chapter 14

As Kelly stumbled into the restaurant, Ed examined her, hardly believing what his eyes were telling him. Her hair was wild and she acted like she was drunk. Looking at her, it appeared that she was in a state of shock and unaware of her surroundings. She even walked past the table where he was sitting before standing next to a chair at the counter. Martha immediately greeted her, “Hello, Kelly.”

It took Kelly a moment to remember that she had been at her wedding and several more moments to remember her name. She smiled at the elderly woman and answered, “Martha, it’s so nice to see you again.”

Martha said, “John has been in here every day for the past two days wondering if you had come. He’ll be around in a few minutes. He’s off visiting his friends in the area.”

“Thank you,” replied Kelly. She realized that she was hungry. She sat down in the chair and asked, “Could I have a hamburger, fries, and a shake?”

Martha smiled at Kelly observing her general confusion and answered, “No, you have to go to a café for that.”

“Oh, okay.” She sat there confused wondering why she had asked for food here. She looked up to see Martha laughing and then realized the joke. She laughed and said, “Gosh, I feel like a blond!”

“You look a little dazed. By the way, did you get a boob job?”

Looking down at her chest, her breasts looked huge. She remembered how Ed’s cock had grown in size when he had gotten his medallion. She wondered what other changes had occurred. She said, “I guess you might say that.”

John entered the restaurant and saw Kelly sitting at the counter while Ed sat at a table. Coming over to Ed he asked, “What’s the matter?”

Whispering, Ed answered, “I don’t know. She walked right by me.”

The two men walked over to where Kelly was seated and waited for her to notice them. Finally, John put a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she turned with a surprised look on her face, seeing them for the first time. John and Ed took a seat on each side of her. Trying to sound lecherous, Ed said, “I like the new look.”

John said, “It looks like a D cup to me.”

Kelly looked at her husbands and smiled at where they were looking. She teased, “Can’t wait to get your hands on them?”

“Either my hands or my lips. I’m not particular,” answered John. He laughed at the blush that spread over her face.

When Martha brought the food, Kelly began to absently eat her lunch. Concerned for her, Ed watched her carefully while John turned to Martha and explained, “I’m afraid that she’s a little out of it, yet.”

Seeing that Kelly wasn’t even following the conversation, Ed suggested, “I think we had better take her home and let her recover there.”

Martha looked worried and asked, “Is it drugs or something?”

Shaking his head, Ed answered, “She became a Druid today. It can be a very traumatic experience and has physical changes.”

“Oh, it’s the result of some magic ritual?”

John answered, “She met the Goddess.”

When Kelly finished her meal, she sat there staring off into space. Helping Kelly to her feet, they guided her out of the restaurant and to the Jeep. As Ed held the door open, John helped her into to the seat. Once seated, she came out of her mental wanderings. She turned to John and looked at him with tears in her eyes. She cried, “I saw her as she has become because of us.”

After a short whispered conversation between John and Kelly, John got in the driver’s seat and drove to the Sporting Goods Shop. Ed waited outside as Kelly met with Cathy, the woman that owned the store. After five minutes, Kelly returned to the car and got in the back seat. Turning to talk to her, Ed saw that she had already fallen asleep.

The drive back to the house was quiet as neither John nor Ed said a word. From the green robe clenched in her hands, Ed knew that she served the Goddess. Of course, that had been expected. Looking over her, it was strange to see such large breasts enclosed within her tee shirt. She had gone from a small B cup to a full D cup. The effect on the tee shirt was to stretch it so that all the details of her breasts were outlined through the material.

Both men were tired by the time they arrived at the house. Ed got out and opened the door expecting to carry her into the house. John used the open door to reach Kelly and pick her up. Once John had her out of the car, Ed closed it and raced across the garage to open the door to the house.

Linda met them at the door and after taking one look at Kelly, said, “Bring her into my room. I’ll watch over her until she wakes. Everyone else is busy and you two look tired.” John carried Kelly upstairs to Linda’s room. It took Linda a moment to open the door and step out of the way. Grunting, John barely managed to get her to the bed before his strength left him. He set her down a little less gently than he had intended. John returned to the front room and waited for Linda. When she came out of her room she said, “She has changed.”

“Yes, that often happens after dealing with the Gods and Goddesses. What she is doing now is a little different from anything that we’ve seen before.”

Ed came up the stairs and stood outside the room. He cautioned, “Watch her carefully. She’s liable to be very horny when she wakes up. If you need to, get Leroy to take care of that if you can’t find any of us.”

Linda shyly asked, “Speaking of horny, when are we going to get together John?”

“Soon,” replied John. Seeing the look of disappointment on her face, he added, “For now, just enjoy yourself and relax. We have all the time in the world.”

John left with Ed after taking one more look at Kelly. Ed was exhausted and wanted to reach his room, wash, and then relax in the pool. Of course, he had to mount his samples first. In his room, he carried his specimens up to his study. After examining them, he selected a small stone to add to his collection. It was a nice little stone that represent this trip in many ways. He chose an even smaller stone to mount for the collection at the school. Tired, he still took the time to label the rocks with the type of rock, the location they came from, and the date found. He put his sample on a shelf with the kind of pleasure that only a collector knows.

After an hour nap, Ed headed to the kitchen to see about getting a little something to eat. He was pleased to see Marguerite dancing around the kitchen for the first time since Beth had died. Of course, he had been in LA for most of that time and knew that she had probably danced while cooking long before now.

After seeing Marguerite, he noticed Bob sitting at the table watching her with a smile. Bob looked good despite his injuries. It was going to be another month before he would be able to resume even light duties, but Ed wasn’t worried about that. Knowing that Bob was okay was the most important thing. Ambling over to the table, Ed sat down and asked, “How are you feeling Bob?”

Still wearing the neck brace, Bob answered, “Much better. I’m really glad to be home.”

Shaking his head, Ed said, “I’m really sorry. The day we left for LA, I knew I should have talked to him. If I had, then this whole mess could have been avoided.”

Raising an eyebrow, Bob asked, “Are you apologizing for not being perfect?”

“Yes, I guess so,” replied Ed with a laugh. He couldn’t believe how Bob wouldn’t blame him for his negligence.

Bob tried to shake his head, but the neck brace kept him from moving his head. Giving up, he said, “They took advantage of the situation. The family was split up because Beth had died and her father had been injured.”

The injuries had not been good for Bob. He had lost considerable weight and he was still pale. He had spent most of his time in bed up in Marguerite’s room with her taking care of him. Looking over at Marguerite, he asked, “Marguerite, what kind of patient was Bob?”

She came over to the table and slipped a plate with half a sandwich in front of Ed. Smiling, she said, “He’s a pretty good patient, but he’s developed a thing for women in nurses uniforms.”

Bob laughed at the joke. For the past month, she had been wearing a sexy nurse outfit whenever she was up in her room. He said, “There’s only one nurse that turns me on.”

Ed took a bite from the sandwich and made the appropriate appreciative noises. Marguerite smiled at his obvious enjoyment of the sandwich. She said, “It might be the nurses uniform that I wear.”

After swallowing the bite of sandwich, Ed asked, “So when are you two getting married?”

With a frown, Bob said, “I’ve got one more surgery to undergo, and that will require about two months of recuperation. We’ll set a date for the wedding once I’ve recovered.”

Taking a sip of iced tea, realizing he didn’t remember Marguerite bringing it, he replied, “Sounds wise to me.”

Frowning, Marguerite said, “I don’t think so. I want him to marry me so that I can sit there like a proper wife by his side.”

Knowing there was more than a little truth in what he was about to say, Ed joked, “And he wants to wait until he’s healthy enough to have a proper wedding night.”

Smiling at Ed, Bob said, “Exactly.”

Knowing that he had stumbled into an area of contention, Ed reached into his pocket and pulled out the sample box with his diamonds in it. Moving the stones around with his little finger, he selected one of the middle-sized stones and removed it. Placing it on the table, he said, “I visited a diamond mine over the past few days. This is one of the diamonds that I found.”

Bob turned and bent over to look at it. With an appreciative look, he said, “That’s a good sized diamond.”

Marguerite said, “That’s amazing.”

Looking over at Marguerite, Ed said, “I figure once Bob finds someone to cut the stone, you’ll get three nice diamonds out of it. If he makes a nice setting for them, I would say that you would have a very nice wedding ring.”

Bob’s mouth fell open at the statement. Marguerite looked at Ed with tear filled eyes. Every time she thought he had given them the ultimate gift, he surprised her by going one better. Excited, she hugged him around the neck and cooed, “You sweet man.”

Bob stared at the stone, his imagination working overtime trying to visualize a proper setting for the stones. In an awed voice, he realized that with those stones and a platinum setting he would have a wedding ring worth about thirty thousand dollars. Looking over at Ed he said, “That’s an amazing gift.”

Shaking his head, Ed knew better. He had found the stone and it had cost him nothing. The value of the stone didn’t matter; it was the happiness that it brought to the people it touched. He had been happy to find it, the Sheriff had been happy digging it out, Bob would be happy making the ring, and Marguerite would be happy wearing the result. He said, “It’s a happy stone and I’m glad to see that it has made you happy as well.”

Marguerite went to sit next to Bob. The two of them looked over the stone. Even though a raw diamond is nothing special to look at, the couple was ecstatic over the present. As they talked, Ed finished his sandwich enjoying the tenderness the two showed each other.

Sarah and Leroy came into the kitchen. Seeing Ed at the table, they joined him. Looking at the stone on the table, Sarah asked, “Do you want me to throw that away for you?”

Marguerite nearly took her head off as she responded, “Over my dead body. That’s a diamond that Ed just gave us for a wedding ring.”

Leroy looked over at Ed with wonder. He still had not made up his mind how he felt about the cowboy. Most of the time, Ed made him nervous with his steel gray eyes and intense look that seemed to peer into the soul. Finally, he said, “That’s a very nice present.”

Sarah smiled at Ed and said, “You’re always doing nice kinds of things for us. Haven’t you realized that we’re hired help?”

Looking at Sarah, Ed realized that he hadn’t done anything for her or Cathy in a long time. Shrugging, he answered, “You’re part of the household.”

Shaking his head, Leroy said, “Bob, I’m ready to clean out the atrium. Care to oversee?”

Bob picked up the stone and said, “I’ll be over there in a minute.”

Bob left the kitchen, going to his room to put the stone in a safe place. Ed watched him leave with a smile. Turning to Leroy, he asked, “You’ve been working around the house?”

Leroy shrugged and said, “You’re a little understaffed around here. From what I understand, you lost your security person and Bob has been injured. I’m doing what little I can.”

“I think that we have to remedy that situation. I’ll talk to John and see when we can go interview people,” said Ed. Looking over at Marguerite, Ed asked, “Would you like an assistant cook?”

Smiling, Marguerite answered, “I already have one. His name is Bob.”

Ed laughed and left the kitchen. Stopping by the office, he told Cathy to arrange for Marguerite to compete in the cooking competition again this year. He hoped that he would be able to attend the competition this time.

Satisfied with how his day was going, he went to the informal living room where he found John watching television. Sitting down next to John, he said, “We need to hire more staff.”

Frowning, John answered, “I know. You want to go to the agency tomorrow?”