Chapter 22

Ed and Ling were making love in the doggy position. His hands pulled her onto his cock even as she pushed back against him. Her loud vocalizations of sexual pleasure carried through the entire house and drove Ed to drive his cock into her harder. The hard thrusts only increased her pleasure and the volume of her voice. It was a cycle that drove both of them to higher pleasure.

Buttocks clenched as the come boiled up from his balls to fill her waiting cunt, Ed screamed out his pleasure in a roar like a lion. Ling put her face into a pillow, an act that muffled her orgasmic scream. Sweat dripping off his body and a thin film of sweat covering hers, the two exhausted lovers separated to allow their bodies to cool. Pulling away from her, his cock pulled out with a sucking sound.

They collapsed on the bed, sexual appetites sated. Her ass was still up in the air as she had relaxed back on her heels with her knees tucked up beneath her. Reaching over to her back, Ed ran his hand up and down her spine. She sighed in pleasure in that afterglow that was complemented by continued attention from her husband. This was life and it was good.

After relaxing for fifteen minutes, the pair went into the bathroom to shower. This was Ed’s second shower in less than an hour. Taking their time washing each other, they enjoyed each other’s company without it turning into a sexual encounter. For Ling, the best part came when Ed washed her hair, his gentle fingers massaged her scalp. It always amazed Ed how much the women loved to have their hair washed by someone else. Of course, that was nothing compared to how much they enjoyed watching him shave.

Entering the formal living room, Ed and Ling were searching for Nora to show her around the house. Finding the living room empty, Ling suggested they go into the dining room in case Marguerite had set out some snacks in there. The dining room was empty, but there was the sound of laughter coming out of the kitchen. As they approached the door, they could hear Nora say, “That man is so frustrating. I was horny the entire time I was out there and he didn’t make a move on me. When I asked him to do it, he said no. He gets here and ten minutes later I hear a woman screaming in orgasm.”

Ling looked over at Ed and smiled as she shook her head. Even she was tempted by Nora’s body and couldn’t understand how he resisted the temptation. Marguerite said, “Nobody can make Ling scream like that except Ed, Leroy, and John. Those men just love making love. I’ve always found him to be a fun lover.”

Nora immediately compared bodies, shocked that he would sleep with the large woman and ignore her. She asked, “How could he ignore me? I was naked in the morning and he just fixed breakfast.”

Ling pushed Ed away from the door and whispered, “Go take a swim. We’ll be there in a while.”

Knowing better than to argue, Ed headed to the swimming pool. He knew it was time for girl talk and no men were allowed. Rather than jump in the pool, Ed sat down in one of the chairs and thought about the next few years. For all intents and purposes, he had to move to North Carolina. In fact, the whole family was going to have to move there. Ed was going to start teaching. John was staying on the campus full time as president of the college. The wives would either live at the college or commute between Arizona and North Carolina. Kelly was definitely living at the college.

In the kitchen, Ling sat down at the table across from Nora with a look on her face like the cat that caught the canary. In a very pleasant voice, she said, “How was your trip?”

Surprised by the directness of the question, Nora stared at Ling unable to believe that this beautiful woman was one of the wives. When Ed had said that he was married to three of the most beautiful women in the world, she had just assumed that he was talking like a husband that was proud of his wife. Ling, with her petite oriental build and Caucasian features, looked exotic. An aura of strength surrounded her even though she was just sitting in her chair relaxed. If she had seen Ling before going on the trip, there was no way that she would have tried to seduce Ed. Hesitating somewhat, she answered, “We found lots of rocks.”

“Isn’t he great in bed?”

Looking down at the table and wondering if this was going to be a jealousy scene out of a B-grade movie, Nora replied, “I wouldn’t know.”

Ling sat back in her chair and pretended to examine Nora carefully. Finally, she said, “Even though I would take you into my bed in a minute, you must not be pretty enough for Ed. I suspect that he sees a real potential for beauty in you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken you out into the desert.”

The comment was so mixed with positives and negatives that Nora had no idea how to respond. Despite the fact that she wasn’t into women, it was nice to know that this woman thought she was beautiful enough to have sex. He didn’t think she was pretty, but he saw potential in her. She asked, “What does it mean, he sees potential for beauty in me?”

Ling, glancing over at Marguerite, could tell that the Chef knew what she had meant. Winking, she gave her permission for her to be the one to explain it to Nora. Marguerite came up behind Nora and laid her hands on her shoulder. Leaning over so that her mouth was next to Nora’s ear, she whispered, “I will explain it to you later.”

When Marguerite went over to the stove to check on dinner, Ling leaned forward and said, “Ed and I shall be in the pool room. Come join us when you are ready.”

Ling left the table and the room without waiting for an answer. It was time for Nora to grow up, to put behind the glamor, and to discover true beauty. She could think of no one better than Marguerite to provide that lesson.

When Ling had left the room, Shuana who had been listening, left the room as well knowing that this was something that Marguerite needed to handle all by herself. Nora swiveled to face Marguerite and asked, “Why would he sleep with you and not me? What does she mean that I have potential for beauty?”

Not answering immediately, Marguerite took the time to fix a cup of hot tea. Coming over to the table, she sat down and took a sip of her tea. In a way, the questions Nora had asked were insulting to her personally and that was part of the reason why Ed hadn’t slept with her. Rather than answer the questions directly, she asked, “Did you ever ask yourself what he would be getting out of fucking you other than the chance to rub his cock against your body?”

The crudeness of the question shocked Nora. She was about to react, but then stopped to think about what had really been asked. What would Ed have gotten out of it? She was the one that was horny. Was she really horny or was this an attempt to put the man in a position in which she held power over him? She sat back in the chair and stared at Marguerite. Clearly the large woman understood aspects of having sex with men that she had never known existed. Putting her hands up to her face to wipe away the tears that suddenly formed, she asked, “What more is there?”

Marguerite let the woman cry, knowing that to interrupt wouldn’t allow the poisons in her soul to escape. Controlling herself so that she wouldn’t shake her head and send the wrong message, she thought about how tough a job Ed had actually taken on by accepting her as a rock-hunting partner. Just a week ago, she had met Nora for the first time and had been overwhelmed by her glamor. Today, she saw that it was a shell that perhaps held a real person.

When Nora stopped crying, Marguerite handed her a napkin and said, “There is rape, there is fucking, there is sex, and there is making love. Ed almost always makes love, but he will engage in sex occasionally.”

Nora knew about rape, but the other distinctions that Marguerite had made were beyond her. She asked, “What’s the difference?”

“Rape is a form of violence against another human being. Fucking is mutual masturbation where the whole idea is just to get off and the person you are doing it with doesn’t even matter. Sex is a form of play with lots of laughter and fun, best done with friends. Making love is a mutual sharing of each other’s souls, seeking to give each other pleasure without regard for your own,” replied Marguerite.

“You say that Ed almost always makes love?” asked Nora wondering how the wives would possibly allow him to do that with other women.

With a deep sigh, Marguerite answered, “Oh, yes. Ed knows how to love and has a boundless amount of it. My husband Bob is that way too, but not many women know about him.”

“Are you saying that the reason that Ed didn’t sleep with me is because I don’t know how to make love?”

Nodding to indicate that Nora was on the right track, she asked, “What do you know about Ed?”

“I investigated him and learned a lot about the things he’s done.”

Hearing that she had investigated Ed bothered Marguerite, but as she considered how many weirdoes Nora might have to deal with she was able to moderate her anger. The reply given didn’t answer the question asked. She repeated her question. “What do you know about Ed?”

“What do you mean?”

“What does he like? What doesn’t he like?”

Nora stared at Marguerite and realized that after spending five days with Ed, she couldn’t answer either of those questions with any certainty. Voice faltering, she said, “I don’t know.”

Marguerite shook her head and stood up from the table rather disturbed by the woman sitting there. She asserted, “You spent almost a week with Ed where he is the happiest and you didn’t even bother to learn anything about him. I know women that would give both their tits to spend that much time with Ed out on the desert.”

Turning on the radio, she started dancing and returned to the stove where the soup for dinner was still simmering. Leaning over, she waved a hand over the pot to bring the aroma to her nose so that she could smell it without burning her sinus passages. The flavors were blending well, as the stronger flavors slowly lost their strength and the weaker flavors started to emerge. Totally involved in cooking, she didn’t hear Nora leave the kitchen.

The staff, with the exception of Marguerite, had gathered in the pool room for a chance to talk with Ed and Ling. The house had felt so empty lately without them there. They had missed the activity and chaos that came from having the family at home. Sitting around the pool, clothes had been shed as the staff talked about what had been going on in their lives.

Shuana turned to look at Ed and asked, “When are you and I going to do a little horizontal dirty dancing?”

Looking over at Shuana and seeing her full figure jiggle as she made a little dancing move, Ed laughed and said, “When ever you want. Is tonight soon enough?”

Lifting one of her large breasts, dark brown with a black aureole and nipple, she laughed as she said, “It’s about three years overdue, I would say.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were interested,” replied Ed recalling the conversation with Shirley.

“How much more obvious can a woman get than telling you that she needs a good fucking?” asked Shuana. The women on the staff had said that one needed to hit Ed and John over the head to let them know they were interested in sleeping with one of the men. She hadn’t believed it until she had seen it.

“I thought you were complaining about not having a boyfriend,” replied Ed.

“Honey, I got men lined up wanting a piece of this full figured woman. I’ve been dating a man for about a year now,” explained Shuana.

“Who?”

“Desmond Van Engen,” replied Shuana. She rather liked the idea of becoming Shuana Van Engen in the not too distant future.

Hoping that he knew the man, Ed was disappointed to discover that he didn’t recognize the name. Shaking his head, he said, “I’m sorry. I don’t recognize the name. He’s not from around here.”

George answered, “He’s the assistant Chef at the Gourmand. Marguerite was going to use him as a substitute Chef while she was on her honeymoon until Jim opened the new restaurant when his old boss was arrested.”

Giggling like a schoolgirl, Shuana said, “You should see us cooking. Sometimes we even make it to the kitchen.”

Ed laughed at the mental image, pleased to learn that Shuana had found someone with whom she shared a passion. He said, “I bet that is a sight to behold.”

The family laughed at that, Shuana the hardest. Years of being ashamed of her body, viewing herself as a second class citizen, and distrusting whites had been stripped away leaving a happy woman. Now she felt sorry for skinny women that weren’t loved for the person inside. So far her experience with Nora had upset her more than she could say and it wasn’t because she knew that Nora didn’t think highly of her as a woman.

Ed looked over at Walt and George and asked, “So what have you to guys been up to lately?”

Walt answered, “We are publishing another book. That one will make the third book that we’ve gotten out. The next one is going to be a lot of work as we are covering the period from 1965 to 1970. Lots of wars during that time with the big one being Vietnam.”

George said, “We are thinking of splitting that one into two volumes. One covering the other engagements around the world and one dealing only with Vietnam.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” replied Ed. He asked, “So what else happened other than the Vietnam war?”

“Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Greece, Bolivia, Indonesia, and Cuba, to name a few areas of engagements,” replied George.

Looking over at George, Bob said, “I didn’t realize that our military was busy in so many parts of the world. I always thought of Vietnam as the only war of that time period.”

Smiling, Walt said, “Most of that was CIA with minor military support. Still, American Soldiers fought and died for our country. We can’t forget Korea, soldiers were still getting shot across the DMZ.”

Ed asked, “Is there a real need for another book on Vietnam?”

Walt and George looked at each other for a minute, as it was a question they hadn’t even asked themselves. As they stood up, Walt said, “Excuse us for a little while.”

“Sure,” replied Ed to their backs as they walked out of the room. He knew they were going to debate the issue in great detail.