Chapter 97

THURSDAY AFTERNOON — SEPTEMBER 26

As Jeff and Dave sat in the SUV, Jeff glanced over at his friend who appeared more than a little shell-shocked. "What are you going to do about rings?"

"Wha ... Oh, shit," Dave said sitting up straight. "I haven't even thought about them."

"Better start," Jeff grinned, enjoying someone else being on the receiving end for once.

Jeff's cell rang. Eyeing the caller ID, he frowned. "What is Evie doing calling me?"

"Jeff," he answered.

"Let me speak to my husband, please. For some reason, he's turned his phone off." The 'please' didn't sound like it meant please.

"Your wife," Jeff said, handing the phone to Dave.

Dave frowned and took the phone. After a moment, "Well, I don't know. I didn't realize that I had turned ... Uh, no. Jeff and I were just talking about that ... Uh, sure. We'll get over there right now. Thanks, Babe," he said hanging up and handing the phone back to Jeff.

Pulling his phone out and looking at it, "I didn't turn it off. The battery is dead." Then, in an almost desperate tone, "I've got to go pick up the rings. She has already called the jewelers."

Almost before Dave was done with the explanation, Jeff was gunning the Expedition toward the street.

Later at the retreat. "Matthews' residence, Jeff speaking."

"Request permission to land," a chuckling Frank Wainwright said.

"So you're going to take the shortcut this time?" Jeff laughed.

"Yep, on the way. ETA ten minutes. It's getting dark. How about turning on the lights for the helipad?"

"I wondered if I would ever get to use those," Jeff laughed. "Will do. Everything okay?"

"Couldn't be better."

"Invite your pilot in for some coffee and a snack. Or if he hasn't eaten, we should be having supper pretty soon."

"Already asked him, but he has to pick up his first passenger in an hour. But I told him that we wouldn't take no for an answer many more times."

Jeff laughed as he said, "I second that. Tell him we owe him and we intend to pay our debts."

"You've got it. See you in a few minutes," Wainwright said before cutting the connection.

"What do you mean the pilot isn't coming in?" Joyce said, adamant as she and Jeff stood in the hallway. "No way is that man getting away from here without my thanking him for helping to save my life."

"Reed has a passenger that he has to pick up in an hour..."

"Then he has five minutes to spare, or else he'll just have to be five minutes late. I haven't been able to thank him personally. I thought about trying to call him on the phone, but he deserves more than that. I kissed Sheriff Tate right in front of his jealous wife, and I'm darn sure not going to do less for someone who lost his job trying to save my life."

Jeff leaned over and lightly kissed her, almost becoming lost in her green eyes as he did so. "Easy there my soon-to-be wife. I'm on your side. Hell, I'll hold him for you," he teased. Then more seriously, "We'll meet the chopper at the helipad. I want to see the look on his face when all my wives tell him thank you. I'll bet he has something to think about on the way to the airport," he finished, grinning.

"Everybody?" Joyce said, her grin now matching Jeff's. "Yeah, I like that. I know that Caitlin said that she would like to thank him, but I like the idea of everyone doing it. Yeah, that will give the guy something to remember." Starting down the hallway, she suddenly turned, her long hair swirling onto her shoulder as she swung her head sharply, "And you're not going to be jealous..."

"Oh, come on, Joyce. It isn't as if you're going to bed with him. I would draw the line somewhere along there. But we need to do something special for the guy. Well, Frank is buying him a helicopter and starting a business for him, but this is a little more personal. And the way my wives kiss, he'll remember it to his dying day. Of course, he'll probably still have a lump in his pants when he gets to the airport."

Joyce giggled and took off to find the others, knowing that she had been included in the wives comment.

As the big helicopter settled to the pad with a gentle touch, everyone waited well away from the down blast from the rotors. As the blades wound down, Bill, who had been riding up front with the pilot, got out on the left side. The passenger door opened and Margaret, Kathy and Frank stepped out as well.

Reed got his surprise. A beautiful woman with a mane of hair that was somewhat tousled by the wind opened the pilot's door. "I'm Deputy Joyce Cramer; the deputy you lost your job over. I hope your wife doesn't mind, but mind or not, I'm going to thank you in the only way I know how." With that, Joyce pushed his microphone out of the way of his mouth, grabbed the back of his head and kissed him.

Before the poor guy had time to recover, "I'm Caitlin; Joyce's sister. Thank you for helping save her," and Caitlin kissed him, trying to outdo Joyce. It went on. Of course, Diana had added her little twist to the idea, and all of the women were braless. Kathy and Margaret joined the end of the line when they saw what was going on, adding their appreciation to that of the other women.

"Well, he's functioning," Jeff laughed as the helicopter faded from sight over the top of the mountain, "but I'll bet the first few minutes of flying were more from muscle memory than conscious reasoning."

Diana snuggled up to Jeff and whispered into his ear. "I sure hope he loses that erection before he gets back to his wife. I don't want him to get in trouble with her."

Jeff grinned, "Maybe he'll stop at a bathroom somewhere and relieve some of the pressure. I doubt if it will go down on its own after what all of you did."

Laughing, they headed for the back door.

As the women prepared the evening meal, Jeff, Dave, Bill and Frank were shooed off to the living room. "Well, darn," Frank Wainwright said, "At least they could have let us sit in there and supervise," he joked.

Dave propped his feet up as they all found seats and settled in. "I know they're talking about the weddings, but I would love to be a fly on the wall so that I could hear what they really think."

"Oh, you mean about men being brainless idiots that have to be led around all the time to keep them from hurting themselves?" Frank laughed.

"Yeah. Exactly, at least as far as Evie is concerned right now, I'll bet. She let Dave out of her sight and now there's another wife in the wings," Jeff interjected with an evil grin.

"What?" Bill said, frowning. "You're not serious are you?"

"Uh oh," Jeff mumbled. Then louder, "Let my mouth run off before putting my brain in gear. I apologize, Dave. I should have let you break the news to your father-in-law."

"You're serious? You're going to marry someone else? Someone besides my daughter?" Bill said turning to fully face Dave, a frown deepening the pilot's face.

"Easy, Bill. Before you say something that you're bound to regret, just remember that your body is also being enhanced. Unless you quickly learn to control your pheromones and your, uh, mental abilities, you're going to wind up with another woman before you know it."

Bill stared at Jeff. "No way. Kathy is plenty. I mean we've only made love a couple of times, but I love her. She's all I want. I have no intention..."

"Yeah, well, neither did I, but tomorrow night I'll have nine. And the more I get the happier my Queen seems to be. Couple of years ago, she would have had my nuts nailed on the bedroom wall if I had messed with another woman. Once you marry that little gal and she gets settled in, she's going to really notice that Dave and I have more than one wife. When the Queen Bitch syndrome kicks in, she's going to realize that she will have more prestige, or whatever they feel, if you have a few more wives. Then she will start shopping. And that's not saying anything about what's going to happen when you are even casually attracted to some other woman and you dump a deluge of pheromones..."

"No way, Jeff. It isn't going to happen to me," Bill said, even as his thoughts returned to something that had happened recently.

"Oh, really? What about Kathy already consenting to having Linda spend a night with you after you are married? I'm telling you that she's already being indoctrinated into the mindset of the women around here — my wife in particular. Ask Dave if what I'm saying isn't true. Evie has changed."

"And that's putting it mildly," Dave broke in grinning. "Sorry Bill. I should have gotten you aside as soon as we walked in, and brought you up to date. But before you decide to kick my ass for adding another woman to my marriage, you might want to think about what Jeff is telling you. It hasn't been long ago that Evie very emphatically told me that I wasn't to even think about another woman. That just because I was around Jeff who had several wives didn't mean it was going to happen to me. I could forget it if it ever even crossed my foolish mind. She had the only pussy I was ever going to get. Then today, she led Kim to me and put her hand in mine."

Bill sighed, seeming to give up far quicker than Dave expected. "Does Linda know?"

"You bet. They saw each other for the first time at the dress shop where they were getting their wedding dresses. I told Linda that I had fucked up and called Kim with my pheromones, but I loved her and had since she was a kid."

"How did she take it?" Bill asked, in spite of himself.

"Well, to be truthful, Evie took care of things, and there didn't seem to be much of a problem at all — far from it. Linda even seemed to expect it."

Bill just sighed and looked thoughtful as he stared out the window at the lighted grounds of the retreat.

Jeff, his face contemplative, looked over at Bill. "You gave in to that awfully quick, considering the way the conversation was headed there for a minute. I'm not trying to piss you off, but care to tell us what's happened? Remember, we're all in this together. And to be frank with all you guys," he said, glancing around at his buddies, "I had to go through this without a guidebook. I was constantly afraid that I was going to step off the path in this minefield that I had stumbled into. Your women have Diana to talk to as a guide. Without trying to be an ass, sincerely, guys, she's your best friend in this. She'll tell your women that this is a natural thing for an Alpha, and guide them into believing it is a prestigious development in their marriage.

"So what's happened?" Jeff asked again as he grinned at Bill.

Bill sighed, unconsciously staring hard at his hands for a moment, somewhat embarrassed; although, he didn't quite understand why. "Uh, we were sitting in this small waiting room for pilots. Mr. Wainwright had a meeting with someone in Seattle. He said that he would only be an hour or so. Kathy and I had refueled the plane, then were just sitting around talking and looking idly out the window at the planes when this ... female pilot walked in.

"I swear to you, I just glanced at her. She, uh ... filled out her uniform quite well, to put it mildly. Kathy spoke to her and they got to talking. She sat down across from us and I couldn't help but notice her chest. The first thing I knew, she had gotten up and sat back down beside me on the couch. I saw Kathy frown and knew that the ice was getting thin, so I hardly responded to the conversation at all. I guess I made the mistake of looking at her again, and she just ... fuck, I don't know, just sort of preened for me. Sat up straight and pushed her breasts out, and I don't mean she did it in a casual manner, either.

"Then she was rubbing my leg — with Kathy sitting right there watching her. Uh, Kathy was not pleased. They went for a 'walk, ' and this pilot — hell, I don't even remember her name — didn't come back with her. Then Kathy started giving me the cold shoulder. Finally, I got pissed, turned her around to face me — we were again sitting next to each other on the couch — and I told her that I was tired of it. That I had done absolutely nothing wrong. It was like you had flipped a switch. She was all over me right there in the lounge, or tried to be. She kissed me — and I mean kissed me — saying she was sorry, her apology as much an overreaction as the come-on from this other woman had been.

"I've had women come on to me. Hell, what man hasn't? But this gal was a commercial pilot — a professional. I think she would have fucked me right there. Uh ... that's what ran through my mind about the time I was getting pissed about you, uh, jilting my little girl," he finished, looking hard at Dave.

After a couple of moments of uncomfortable silence, Bill sighed again, "I guess I'm beginning to believe — I mean really believe — some of the things that Jeff and Diana told me. But old habits and concepts die hard. I, like any father, want the best for my little girl. And she'll be my little girl, no matter how old she is, I guess."