Chapter 21

Belly swollen with child, Kelly lay on the couch feeling very pregnant and elephantine. However, unlike a lot of women in her condition, she didn’t feel ugly. The men and women in her family paid so much attention to her body that it was almost frightening. How could one feel ugly with so many worshiping her? She didn’t know. All that she did know was that they did whatever they could, to make her comfortable and happy.

Ed was on the floor next to her slowly rubbing some skin cream on her bulging stomach, enjoying the feel of the child moving inside. It was with total awe that he watched her body change as a new life grew within it. This was the miracle that he served, innocent life created by the Goddess, given strength by the God, and that little spark that made human different from animal from the Two-Sided One.

Leroy was at the end of the couch, with Kelly’s feet on his lap rubbing them with body cream. The firm caress of his hand on her feet was so sexy that she felt with just a little effort she could come. Dr. Hayes, on his crutches, hobbled into the informal living room and looked at the scene. Smiling he said, “Now don’t you look comfortable Queen Kelly.”

She laughed and said, “If I had known that I would get this kind of treatment, I would have gotten pregnant years ago.”

Smiling up at her, Ed said, “I can’t wait for the water balloons and paper airplanes.”

Dr. Hayes said, “You’ve got a long way to go before that becomes part of your everyday life.”

Smiling, Ed said, “This child is going to be special.”

Years of working in the hospital had taught Kelly a few lessons about new parents and infants. She replied, “All children are special.”

Having finished rubbing the body lotion onto her stomach, Ed put up the bottle and rested his hand on her stomach. Ed jumped and Kelly gasped as the infant within kicked where he was resting his hand. When Ed returned to massaging her stomach, the aggression stopped. He laughed and said, “This little one really likes massages.”

Dr. Hayes made his way over to one of the chairs and sat down. It wasn’t long before John entered the room with a smiling Linda. As Linda sat down on a chair, she said, “Kelly, you are glowing.”

Smiling over at the younger woman, Kelly answered, “I’m excited about tomorrow. We’re getting married.”

Paling, Leroy said, “Oh my gosh, my parents will be arriving soon. I better get dressed.”

As he ran out of the room, Linda took his place and continued the foot massage. She smiled as she ran a finger down the middle of the foot, provoking an immediate response from Kelly. As Kelly pulled her leg back and struggled to get up to respond, she exclaimed, “Wait until you’re pregnant. I’ll get you back for that!”

Linda giggled and said, “Don’t worry. You’ll be too busy chasing the little one around to bother with me.”

As everyone laughed, Kelly settled back on the couch and tried to scrunch up her face at Linda. The result prompted another laugh from Linda. After a few minutes, Kelly said, “I have to get up.”

Ed stood and helped her sit up. Once she was sitting, she held out a hand to be helped up. Grasping her hand, Ed helped her to her feet. Once she was standing, she said, “One of the downsides of all this, is that I have to go potty about twenty times a day.”

Almost simultaneously, Ed and John said, “Shhhhhhhhhh.”

Their response created a minor ripple of laughter. Whenever she said that she had to go to the bathroom, it was almost an automatic reply on their part intended to make the need a little stronger. If Leroy had been there, he would have joined in as well. As she waddled away a little faster than her original need had demanded, she said, “I’m going to get you guys one of these days.”

Surprised at the juvenile behavior of the two men, Dr. Hayes commented, “You two are incorrigible.”

As Ed joined John on the couch, he smiled at the doctor and said, “That’s why she married us.”

“Clearly it wasn’t for your good looks,” retorted the doctor.

Ling entered the room and said, “I think one of you should go to the airport with Leroy. He appears to be very nervous about his parents showing up.”

Standing, Ed said, “I’ll go.”

Looking over at his husband and seeing a cowboy standing there as others might see him, John wondered what the effect would be on the parents of Leroy. John asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” answered Ed, looking forward to meeting the parents of his future husband. He headed directly to his room to get dressed. Five minutes later, he was headed to the garage.

Greeting Ed when he entered the garage, Walt waited by the van to drive Leroy to the airport. Ed said, “That’s okay Walt. I’ll drive him.”

Shaking his head, Walt said, “No, I’ll drive. You need me to come along to deal with the luggage.”

Surprised, Ed asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes. If you talk nice to me, I’ll even take you with me,” quipped Walt with a grin.

Ed was about to argue and then realized that Walt was kidding. Looking at him out of the corner of his eye, he asked, “Are you sure that you haven’t been working here for years?”

“Quite sure,” replied Walt. He added, “Bob was kind enough to fill me in on all of the tricks of dealing with you guys.”

“Remind me to fire Bob,” Ed joked.

Leroy finally showed up in the garage wearing a grin. One look at Leroy told enough of the story to Ed. He said, “Let me guess, Ling?”

“Linda,” replied Leroy knowing exactly what the question meant.

“That explains everything,” said Ed. Linda had been practicing her oral sex skills every chance she had. There was no doubt that she had gotten better at that than anyone in the household.

The three men climbed into the van and Walt drove towards the airport. Leroy was looking out the window nervous about the reaction of his parents to the rest of the Carter Clan. Noting the pensive posture of Leroy, Ed asked, “What are you worried about?”

“My Dad,” answered Leroy. He turned to face Ed and added, “My Dad is a Deacon at the church and is very conservative. I don’t know how he’s going to react to a group marriage, particularly when he learns that you guys aren’t black.”

“Oh,” replied Ed, as the implications of what Leroy had said became clear to him. Was he about to experience some reverse racism? He grinned and said, “Don’t worry. He won’t be as upset about that as the fact that you’ve been having sex with men.”

“Oh, God,” groaned Leroy. He hadn’t even thought about that aspect of the group marriage.

“Relax, you’ve been around us for a while and know that we don’t have many problems with even the most ardent objectors.”

Thinking about his father, Leroy replied, “You don’t know my father.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting him,” said Ed with a grin.

At the airport terminal where the passengers disembarked, Leroy paced waiting for the doors of the gate to open. Leaning against a post, Ed watched Leroy with concern. He had never seen Leroy this nervous about anything. Sitting on one of the chairs, Walt waited patiently knowing that no matter what happened, he could just claim to be the hired help. Ed glanced up at the clock and saw that it was five minutes before the plane was due. He called over to Leroy, “Leroy, have a seat and take it easy. All worry does is make it likely that you will react to things that aren’t intended.”

“You don’t know my father.”

Pushing his hat back on his head, Ed asked, “Does he serve the good?”

“Yes, he does,” replied Leroy confused by the question. His father was a deacon in the church and a righteous man.

“So do we,” replied Ed. Looking directly at Leroy, Ed added, “That gives your father and us something in common. Those who serve good won’t fight each other for long.”

For the next few minutes, Leroy looked thoughtful as he considered the implications of that. By the time that he had come to a conclusion, the plane had landed and pulled up to the gate. Within minutes, the doors had been opened and the first class passengers had disembarked. Among the first passengers to get off the plane was a black couple in their late fifties. The man, an older version of Leroy, wore a conservative gray suit and walked with perfect posture. The woman beside him wore a simple dress, conservative in cut and yet with a nice floral pattern.

As Leroy moved to intercept them, Ed told Walt, “Wait for them to finish greeting each other and then go ask for their baggage claim checks.”

Walt moved over to the threesome as the father shook hands with Leroy as he grasped the younger man’s arm. It was a firm authoritative handshake. After a moment, Leroy and his mother hugged each other in a heartfelt greeting. Walt waited for them to separate before he said, “Mr. Jones, if you could hand me your baggage claim checks, I’ll pick up your luggage and bring it to the car.”

The elderly man turned to Walt and asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m the driver, Sir,” replied Walt.

Handing over the claim checks, Deacon Jones said, “There are two bags, both of them are brown.”

“Thank you, Sir,” replied Walt as he accepted the tickets and left towards that baggage claim area.

Ed was about to head over to them when he noticed a news story on the television. They were broadcasting live from Mexico the consequences of an earthquake of magnitude 6.2. Frowning, Ed wondered if the Fusion Foundation had been activated. Turning from the television, Ed joined Leroy by his parents. Extending a hand, Ed said, “Hello, I’m Ed Biggers.”

Leroy’s father looked at Ed with a critical eye and accepted his hand. In a deep rolling voice, he replied, “I’m Deacon Leroy Jones and this is my wife, Cleo.”

“Pleased to meet both of you. Would you like to head to the car?” asked Ed.

Leroy said, “That’s a good idea. Let’s get home so that my parents can get settled into the house.”

Adjusting the hat on his head, Ed interjected, “I hate to say this, but we need to make another stop in town before going to the house.”

As the four of them headed to the parking garage, Leroy asked, “Why do we need to stop?”

With a long sigh, Ed answered, “There was an earthquake in Mexico just a few minutes ago.”

Knowing the involvement of the Carter Clan in the Fusion Foundation, Leroy understood the answer. His father, walking beside him, was still puzzled as to who Ed was and what his relationship to Leroy was. Feeling like he deserved to know what was going on, he asked, “So how do you know Leroy?”

“I’m a member of the family that he’s marrying tomorrow,” answered Ed distracted by his thoughts about what was happening in Mexico.

Leroy cringed as his father stared at Ed. Concerned, Deacon Jones said, “You’re white.”

The comment made Ed smile. He answered, “I’ve been working on a tan, but it just hasn’t taken. When I get these clothes off, I’m as pale as they come.”

Although the deacon tensed up, Cleo laughed at the joke, appreciating the ease with which the man accepted the racial comment. Despite the look from her husband, she said, “That’s funny.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” replied Ed tipping his hat. When they reached the door to the parking lot, he added, “It’s a little warm outside. I hope you don’t mind the heat.”

Deacon Jones replied, “We live in the south and are used to the heat.”

“Good enough for me,” replied Ed. He led the way to the car as Leroy hung back to talk to his mother and father. Their conversation was held in quiet voices so that Ed couldn’t hear what was being said. When they reached the van, Ed held the doors open for Leroy and his parents.

Inside the van, the temperature was cool representing a compromise between the temperature that Ed liked and that liked by everyone else. Deacon Jones commented, “At least you don’t keep it freezing in the car like most people.”

Leroy replied, “Ed doesn’t like it too cold. This is a compromise between the temperature that he likes and what everyone else likes.”

“Ed sounds like he carries a bit of weight within the family,” remarked the deacon.

Joking, Ed said, “Well, if I ate too much of Marguerite’s cooking, I’d be carrying a whole lot more weight. I try to keep it down.”

The deacon just looked at Ed and shook his head. The back door of the van opened as Walt loaded the luggage into the back. He closed the door and after going to the front of the van, got into the driver’s seat. As he settled into his seat, he said, “Next stop, home of the Carter Clan.”

Ed corrected him, “Next stop, Fusion Foundation.”

Walt looked at him in surprise and pulled out of the parking lot. The Fusion Foundation headquarters was not that far from the airport. As they drove by the hanger, Ed noticed that the planes normally parked there were gone. Nodding, he said, “The planes are gone, that’s a good sign.”

The Deacon asked, “Why are we going by the Fusion Foundation?”

Hoping to score points with his father, Leroy was about to explain, but Ed beat him to the punch. Ed answered, “I do some volunteer work there. A major earthquake occurred in Mexico and I need to check to make sure that I’m not needed.”

Pleased to hear that this guy actually volunteered his time to a good cause, Deacon Jones said, “The Fusion Foundation is quite a nice group. There is a medical center near where we live and they do great work.”

Nodding, Ed said, “That’s the area where Kelly does her volunteer work. I’m in the emergency response area.”

Leroy still trying to impress his father said, “Ed is in charge down there.”

Ed said, “Don’t overstate my role. I just visit occasionally.”

Frustrated by the modesty that Ed demonstrated, Leroy sat back in his seat. Walt pulled into the parking lot of the Fusion Foundation building and said, “We’re here folks.”

Ed said, “Why don’t you guys come in, and I’ll show you around?”

After a few minutes of discussion, Leroy was able to convince his parents to go into the building with Ed. Inside, the receptionist stood up and greeted Ed, “Dr. Biggers, we weren’t expecting you.”

Smiling, Ed said, “Hello, Karen. I heard about the earthquake and thought I would stop by to see how things were going.”

Karen replied, “Everyone is in the command center.”

Ed took a minute to introduce everyone to Karen. She was very polite and gave them all VIP badges. Deacon Jones looked at the badge in surprise as she put the chain around his neck. Ed said, “This is the reception area of the headquarters for the Fusion Foundation. Karen Carson is the receptionist here. If you have any troubles, just ask for her and she’ll take care of you.”