Chapter 30

I entered the darkest period of my life, but I wasn't without success. The office complex in Las Vegas sold quickly, exceeding our expectations. The sale for the hotel in Belize soon followed, but the buyers weren't interested in a partially developed hotel on a Greek island.

"Finish it," the buyers of the hotel told me, "and we'll take a look."

I was stuck with completing the Greek island project. We'd lose millions if I abandoned it.

It was five months before a buyer surfaced for Butterfly Caye, and at that we had to take a small loss, which strangely didn't upset Nicole or Sandy. They were too busy to be concerned, I reasoned at the time. I found out later that my reasoning wasn't valid. They were merely trying to support my effort to dump the properties we'd accumulated so we could all go about our separate efforts. A lot of my reasoning during this period wasn't valid. I felt alone and bitter much of the time, and my attitude was the largest single cause of our growing rift. If I'd realized the harm I was inflicting I would've done something about it. It was a vicious circle. I was sad and bitter about being left alone, and Nicole and Sandy felt guilty for leaving me alone, so they tried to compensate by not calling me on my destructive behavior.

The first time I returned from Greece to our compound in Scottsdale and found no one in residence except our maid and gardener, I didn't enjoy the timeout from work the home base was supposed to provide. I stopped in Boston on the trip back to Greece, but I caught Nicole at a bad time, and she couldn't spend much time with me. Sandy wasn't in New York. She was on the other side of the world in Australia. I became more despondent with each passing day and quickly learned to detest real estate development. I persevered, though. Someone had to do it, and the chore fell to me. I wore a shield over half the time.

The Christmas break approached, and I looked forward to all of us getting together, but Nicole begged off, saying she needed the time for schoolwork. Sandy followed suit, declaring the long trip from Australia for such a short time wasn't worth the effort. That's when I shut down and raised a full-body shield. I'd made arrangements for the hotel development to continue in my absence over the break, so I turned off my cell phone and used the time to tour Europe on my own, painting buildings, landscapes, rural scenes and seascapes.

When I returned to the island after the holiday, an angry sister greeted me.

"God damn you, Josh Johnson! You've had Nicole and me sick with worry. Where the hell have you been?"

"Touring Europe, painting. I did some good work."

"Lower your fucking shield."

"You won't like what you find if I do that, big sister."

"Lower it anyway. We need to know what you're feeling, what you're thinking."

I took a deep breath and removed the shield.

Oh, Sandy, he's so sad! Nicole said.

"Fuck this," I said as tears leaked from my eyes. I wrapped myself in my protective cocoon again. "Go back to Australia or wherever you came from. I've got a job to do here, and I'll do it, but I can't, not if I'm connected with either of you. You said I was being selfish. I was and am. I can't help it, but nevertheless I want to support you and Nicole. I want you both to be all you can be."

"Nicole wants to talk with you."

I turned on my cell phone. "Tell her to call me on the telephone."

If I'd been connected with her, I might have been prepared for what happened next. Sandy slapped me hard. I think she was as surprised with how she'd reacted as I. I turned from her and walked to the telephone in my office. "Where is she? In her apartment in Boston?"

"Yes. Josh, I'm..."

I waved off her pending apology and dialed Nicole's number. She answered my call before the first ring ended.

"I can't stand this, Josh! Let me in, please?"

"I can't. Please understand that I miss you and Sandy in my mind as much as you miss being in mine. I miss being in your minds, hearing your thoughts, feeling your sensations and emotions more than I miss being with you, but if I let you in right now, I'll destroy whatever is left of our TRES. I'll lower my shield when this fucking job is finished. If there's anything left for us at that time, and it's my fondest wish that you'll still love me then, I'll be happy to connect with both of you again. That's the way it's got to be, Nicole. Just know that I love you and Sandy with all my heart. There's no one else, and there never will be. You wanted me to give you two years. I'll finish this job in six months. I'm asking you and Sandy for six months, Nicole. Will you give it to me?"

She was crying. "Yes."

I looked at Sandy. She nodded.

I lowered my shield and dialed a cell phone. I didn't feel anyone enter my mind. Nicole and Sandy had given up trying to connect with me, I figured.

"Dot, it's your friendly telepath."

"Hello, where have you been?"

"Europe. I've been out of touch. Did you put Ganarelli away?"

"No, he skated."

"Fuck! What happened?"

"My boss scoffed at me when I told him Ganarelli was a telepath. Ganarelli used his thoughts against him, as well as the thoughts of the prosecutor, judge and jury members to manipulate the trial."

"Hold a minute."

I searched for Ganarelli's psi-sig and found it. He wasn't wearing a shield, so I scrambled his brains.

"There," I said into the phone. "I just acted as prosecutor, judge and jury. He won't commit anymore crimes."

"What did you do?"

"Turned him into a vegetable."

She gasped. "You're scary, Dick."

"Yeah, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." I felt no remorse over what I'd just done. I didn't even try to tell myself that I was merely protecting Nicole and Sandy, or myself, for that matter. The authorities had failed, so I did their job for them.

"Are you interested in a terrorist plot about to erupt in Athens, Greece?"

When she said yes, I gave her the details including the names and addresses of the terrorist cell members, the financing method and individuals involved, and how and when they planned to carryout the act of terror. "You've got three days to stop them, or innocents will die. Do you have enough clout to stop them?"

She hesitated. "I don't know."

"Try. I don't want to break in anyone else as my contact."

"May I tell my boss about your telepathic abilities?"

"That won't work. He won't believe you."

"I'm not so sure. I think Ganarelli's trial made him a believer."

I chuckled. "Ganarelli's scrambled brains will make him a believer. Use that."

Three days later when a truck bomb exploded in front of the U.S. Embassy in Athens, I called Agent Collins.

"You failed."

"My boss is a paranormal skeptic. The doctors told him Ganarelli had suffered a massive stroke."

"Innocents died. Tell him that I hold him responsible. Tell him if he fails to act on one of my tips again that I will take direct action against him personally."

I hung up. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Sandy, are you there?

Yes! Oh, Josh, I'm so happy to hear your thoughts again!

You might change your mind when I tell you what I've done.

May Nicole join us?

Yes.

Josh, is that really you? Nicole said.

Yes. I need help. I told them what I'd done to Ganarelli and about the threats I'd just made against Dot's boss. I don't even know her boss's name, but at the time I made the threat, I believed, without a doubt, that I'd follow up on my threat.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, Sandy said, the tone of her silent communication in the form of a whisper.

That's why I need help. I'm getting jaded - cold. I don't have enough love in me. I asked for six months. Four have gone by, but I can't wait. I need both of you back in my life now. If I get too maudlin, too bitter, please try to understand and forgive me. I can't go it alone anymore. Sandy, is there any way for you to break loose and help me set up the grand opening? I'm no good at grand openings, and with my current mindset, I'd blow it.

Yes, hmm, I can leave in three or four days. Is that soon enough?

Yes. I'm a month ahead of schedule. I've been a brutal taskmaster. I'm afraid I'm not very well liked around here. Nicole, what's your schedule like?

Like you, I'm ahead of schedule. I've been pushing, too. Let me talk to my advisor. I think I can get away for a week.

Okay, let's time your week so you're here for the opening.

Sandy, anything I can do from here, I'll be happy to tackle, Nicole said.

I'll call on you, Sandy said.

Mental silence. I broke it with a thought. I had to know. Is there something left? Am I still loved?

Yes! Two simultaneous mental shouts.

Tears overflowed, happy tears. You've just restored my faith in love. I love you both so much right now I can hardly think.

As it turned out, we didn't need to set up a grand opening. After I completed construction on the hotel, installed the fixtures and furniture, and hired the staff, the buyers of our Belize hotel visited the Greek island and made an offer to purchase the hotel. I accepted their offer without quibbling. At the closing, Sandy and I turned our plans for the grand opening over to the buyers and took the next flight to Boston, via London. Nicole greeted us at the airport with luggage in hand, and the three of us flew on to Phoenix and our compound in Scottsdale where we made love for three days.

Temporarily sated, we were lying naked on lounges around the pool when Sandy asked me about my plans for the future.

"My plans for the future are simple. I will be with one of you wherever you are. I lived without you for over a year. I'll never do that again. I'll walk the ground with you in Australia, Sandy, or spend time in your New York apartment when you're working with your publisher. Nicole, I'll live with you in Boston until you tell me to go away so you can concentrate." I chuckled. "Talk about extremes. If I count my Christmas European tour, I wore a shield for five months without contacting either of you. Now, I'll probably make a pest of myself."

Nicole took my hand and kissed my palm. "You'll never be a pest, lover, not to me. You're my husband, and I love you."

"Hah! Just wait. I want both of you to promise to get grumpy with me when I get too smothering, so I can make myself scarce for a while." I grinned. "There's always home base if both of you are busy."

"What about your art?" Sandy asked. "You haven't done a painting since before we left Greece. Have you given up on your dream?"

"I painted you and Nicole on our bed while you were sleeping this morning."

"You did!"

"Yes, come with me." I rose to my feet and held out a hand for each of my wives. We walked hand in hand, until I stopped them at the door to my studio. "Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you."

I guided them to the middle of the cavernous room. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

"Oh, my God!" Nicole shouted, her head turning, twisting her body to follow her head. Sandy reacted similarly, turning a full three hundred sixty degrees.

That morning I'd hung my watercolor paintings, hundreds of them. They covered most of the available surface of all four walls of the studio.

"Josh, they're magnificent," Sandy breathed.

Nicole, the more demonstrative of my wives, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me hard. She abruptly released me and walked away to study the paintings. Sandy joined her and took Nicole's hand. They moved slowly around the room, stopping at the painting I'd finished that morning.

"I call that painting Love," I said.

Sandy turned to me and nodded. "I can feel your love for us in this painting, Josh." Happy tears shined in her eyes.

"Your command of the medium is incredible," Nicole said. "When are you going to show your work?"

"I don't know if I ever will. I don't need the money."

"You must!" Sandy exclaimed. "The world needs to see the beauty you create."

"Why? I'd never sell the painting of the two of you slumbering, for instance. I could only bear to part with mediocre work, but I'll burn those paintings before I sell them."

"You've painted some scenes more than once," Nicole said. "This one." She pointed. "And this one. Show one and keep the other."

"One is better than the other," I said with a grin.

"Keep the best one. The other one is still great."

"Uh-uh. I painted the second one because the first one wasn't good enough."

"Well, you certainly weren't idle during your hiatus," Sandy said.

"Which one is great and which isn't good enough?" Nicole persisted.

"I didn't capture the fantastic light of the Mediterranean sun in one of them."

Nicole studied the two paintings, frowning at first, and then finally smiling when she noted the difference. She pointed, "That's the great one."

"Give the lovely lady a kewpie doll!" I took the not-so-good painting from the wall and tore it in half. "I won't show or sell mediocre work, Nicole."

I went around the room and destroyed about half the paintings on the walls. With a shameful look, I said, "I was showing off with quantity when I should have displayed only quality. Please forgive me."

"You're forgiven," Sandy said, "but only if you paint two quality paintings for every scene you choose to depict. You must show your work, Josh. I insist."

I thought about her proposition and smiled. "All right," I said simply.

"Yes!" Nicole exclaimed, excitedly. "Whew! I'm married to a best selling novelist and a world-famous artist. I'll have to get my hind end in gear to catch up with the likes of the two of you."

"World-famous is stretching my status as an artist, Nicole. I don't even know if I can induce a gallery owner to show my paintings, let alone sell any of them."

"Hogwash!" Nicole said. "These are the best watercolor paintings I've ever seen. They should be framed, especially Love. Love should be hanging in our party room, and we should hang some of them in our house, Josh, and I want a few of them for my apartment in Boston, some that are full of sunshine. I hate the winters in Boston. Your sunshine paintings will warm the rooms and my heart."

"I'll want some for my house here, as well as for my apartments in New York and London," Sandy said.

What really pleased me was that they weren't merely being kind. My built-in lie detector would've told me if they'd exaggerated their praise.

"Select the paintings you want, and I'll have them framed," I said.

"Impossible!" Sandy said. "I want them all."

"Over my dead body, wifey dearest," Nicole quipped, and the two of them cracked up.

I wrapped my arms around both of and hugged them tightly to me. "I love you both so much. I'm starting feel whole again."

When Nicole returned to Boston and Sandy to New York, I did what I said I'd never do again. I let them go and stayed in Scottsdale. Both of them had gotten behind in their work while babying me, and I didn't want to start off being a pest.

It was time for me to grow up.

I painted, and Arizona offered fantastic vistas that grabbed my full attention. I spent a month at the Grand Canyon, another month in Monument Valley. I visited the Hopis and the Navahos and painted the people, the settings of their confused civilizations, and tried and finally succeeded in capturing their cultures, both the old and new, in my work. And, it was good work. I painted two nearly identical scenes every time, except when I painted three and gave one to my Navaho or Hopi friends.

At the end of three months, I had fifty paintings I could be proud of and sell, and fifty more I couldn't bear to part with.

And while I painted, I talked to my wives.

Nicole, you should see the dawn creeping over the horizon into the canyon. It's magnificent.

Sandy, the Navaho are such gentle souls. You'd love them.

Nicole, tell me a little of what you learned today, something I might be able to understand.