Chapter 2

FRIDAY AFTERNOON — SEPTEMBER 27

Now that the grooms were out of the house, the brides, Evie, Margaret, Diana and the rest of the wives ate lunch with Joshua and Carmen DeSantos. Diana explained all she could about the Alphas and their Queens, without revealing anything about the Healer.

Later, Sheriff Tate, Virginia, Rachel and Cindy arrived early as Diana had asked them to do. Diana spent some time with the girls telling them the things she told the others, leaving them mystified but enthusiastic about the revelations.

Since everyone had "volunteered" to help put up the decorations, Diana and the rest of the wives were ready for them. After opening the door to the room where everything was stored, she handed out a diagram of the living room. "The numbers on the sheet correspond to the number on each item. For instance, that pedestal here," she continued, "has a small number 23 on the side. All you have to do is look on the diagram to see where to put it."

Quinton looked at the small mountain of flowers and decorations. Grinning, he started to say something when Helen spoke up.

"We rented the decorations last time, but just bought them from the company instead of having them pick up everything. Plus, we have added considerably since then."

"We decorated sparsely before," Diana said as she handed the pedestal to the Sheriff, "but we're going to decorate the whole living room this time since we're going to use the stairway at the other end for the brides' entrance."

Shortly, in the living room with everyone carrying something, Diana motioned to the other end. "We want to put these and these on every other step on the outside of the stairs," she said pointing to pedestal stands and flower arrangements that the group carried.

As they approached, Cindy asked, "Where do the stairs go to?"

"Oh, they just go to the second floor, and we seldom use them. I imagine they were built for something like this, anyway."

The girls looked up the wide, slowly curving stairway that went up to disappear behind a vestibule. The railing was of mahogany, the steps a slightly lighter wood, both had a deep sheen that bespoke quality and wealth.

Rachel ran her hand up the broad railing, a smile on her face.

Arlene laughed, "Yeah, we've had a ball sliding down them. Daddy about had a stroke when he first saw us do it, though. We sat on a towel and started all the way at the top. The only problem is the end support that sticks up a couple of inches. You have to push with your hands so you scoot over it at the bottom. Otherwise..." she giggled.

"The brides are going to come down these stairs?" Elizabeth said, her eyes glowing.

"Yep. Actually all of us except the grooms. They're going to come in the side door from the hall."

"I wondered why this room was so big," Tate said. "Oh, I know that Jeff told me the place was a conference center for Wainwright, Inc., but even so, it seems..."

"Well, I guess they had parties, group meetings and other things in here, but the stairway just cries out 'wedding.' We weren't as formal with the other weddings, but we're going to correct that mistake this time," Diana finished.

"So, mine goes at the top of the stairs," Josh said looking at the chart, "Figures," he laughed as he started up.

Dave and Jeff stood in the hallway near the kitchen. "Are you sure you're not..."

"No, Jeff. I am not going to have my feelings hurt. We've discussed this. Fred is the logical choice for your best man. You two have been friends for years. I've known you for a few months..."

"Yeah, but we're closer than brothers, and I guess I'm just worried that..."

"Jeff, you know damn well this is more for the women than anything else. I would just as soon walk in there, say my vows and get it over with. Crap, I'm scared spitless about marrying two other women as it is. Now I have to worry about tripping over my own feet. Fred is going to be your best man. You're going to be mine. Frank is going to be Bill's. And Frank is going to give Caitlin and Joyce away..."

"Stop," Jeff said, grinning. "I'm just going where the women point, and like you, hope I don't trip over something. Shit, we should have practiced this..."

Dave interrupted, laughing, "No way. The way your women all seem to know what the other is going to do, they'll be perfect the first time. And heck, we get to take the shortcut. Evie said all I had to do was stand there and look, uh..."

"Say it," Jeff said, sniggering.

"Handsome," Dave said, his face changing color.

Jeff slapped his buddy on the back and turned toward the kitchen, "Where did Bill get off to?"

"Hiding, probably," Dave laughed as he pushed the door open for Jeff.

Bill was sitting at the table with a large shake in front of him, a look of resignation on his face.

"How much have you drunk so far?" Jeff asked, as he slid into his seat while eyeing the monster shake sitting on the table at his own place.

"About half, I guess," Bill sighed. "I won't be able to walk after I drink all this thing."

Sitting Dave's shake on the table across from Bill, Laura laughed. "Oh, you guys are Alphas. You eat a lot. Now quit whining and drink up so you'll be sure to be up for the job tonight."

No one laughed. "I don't want to hurt your feelings, Laura. But have you tasted this shake?"

"Nope," she lied, inwardly grimacing. "Women don't need it. It's a man thing."

Bill shot a pleading look at Jeff.

"No sympathy here," Jeff laughed. "My shake is bigger than yours. The taste is strange, but when you wake up, you'll know what it's good for."

"Wake up?"

"Yep," Jeff said pulling hard on his big straw to get underway with Laura's concoction. "It'll be nap time when you finish that."

"But I'm not sleepy..." Bill objected.

" ... yet," Jeff finished for him with a snigger.

Bill barely made it to his suite before collapsing on the bed.

"Have you heard from Alesha?" Arlene fretted as they all stood in Evie's living room.

"Yes, she called me back," Diana responded. "She's still scheduled to get off at five. She should be here by five-thirty easy."

"But what if they make her work late?" Jennie said. "I mean; it's a new job. She can't just tell them she has to go to a wedding."

"There is a simple answer to that," Diana said putting her hands on her hips and looking at her nervous sister-wives. "We will have the wedding on time, if everything goes all right. Alesha is part of us. She helped to save Joyce's life. We don't have the wedding until she, and everyone else is here. It will be nice if we can have it at sunset the way we did the others, but if not, then we'll have it when we can."

"But serving three groups all those courses and have everything come out on time..." Melissa chimed in.

"Simple," Laura said. "We are the servers. We take up the dishes and serve the next course when it's time. Heck, they're not going to notice, anyway; they'll be too focused on each other. And each serving is small. We can rush them through dinner, or delay as needed. You girls are getting upset over nothing. This is going to work. We just have a few more to serve for the wedding meal than we're used to. The catering service did a great job preparing and delivering the food the other times; they will this time. All we have to do is serve. Piece of cake."

Later, Evie came storming into the Matthews' kitchen. "My mother is being a bitch," she said, snatching a cup from its hanger.

Diana grinned at the little Queen. "So, she's trying to run your wedding?" she teased, suspecting that wasn't the reason for the outburst.

"Oh, no," Evie said as she poured — dumped — coffee into her cup, spilling some on the counter.

Laura handed her friend a paper towel while trying hard to keep her face straight. The blond was obviously mad enough to have smoke coming out her ears.

Evie wiped up the spill, threw the paper towel in the trash, then poured cream into her coffee. Turning to her friends, "No, she's not trying to run the wedding; she hasn't gotten that far yet. She's still at the 'you can't do this' stage. She claims this is all Dave's idea to 'get some new pussy.' My talking to her just goes right over her head," she finished, waving her hand past her head to demonstrate.

"I got in her face and uh, was a bit excited, I guess. When I realized how close I was to losing it, I got out of there before I committed mayhem."

"And your dad?" Diana prompted.

"My dad? Hah. He thinks it's hilarious. And I jumped his ass about what he said to Dave on our first date."

"And that was..." Diana prompted.

"Oh, remember what Dave said that Dad whispered to him as we started out of the house on our first date? Something to the effect of don't get my daughter pregnant."

"So what did he say?"

"He laughed, but then sobered and said that Dave must have taken what he said too much to heart since we still hadn't given him any grand kids after fifteen years. Crap, I didn't know whether to laugh or hit him on the head."

Evie took a sip of her coffee and frowned, having forgotten to put any sweetener in. As she turned back to remedy that, she continued, "Now my dad is sitting in my living room watching a ball game. Heck, he hugged Kim and told her that he was proud of her for landing Dave. Then he hugged Linda and told her that Dave was a lucky man. I thought that Daddy would be the one to give me trouble. Mom has always been so sweet ... Shit, I'm ready to wring her neck."

Evie put Splenda in her coffee, then turned back to Diana. "I thought since Daddy was a deacon in the church, that he would be the one to disapprove of a multiple marriage, but then my sweet little mother is the one to act like a bitch, and my father barely blinked.

"I got them into the bedroom, thinking that I had better try to explain in more detail what was going on. Before I could even get started, Dad broke in and told me there were several men in the Bible who had more than one wife. 'Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't. Sometimes men with only one wife had problems, too, ' he told me. Then he hugged me and told me that it took more than just love to make a marriage work. It took an honest, hard effort from everyone involved.

"That was about the time that my mother chose to go off. I just didn't expect it out of her."

Looking at Diana, Evie asked, "How did you handle your mother?"

"'Handle her?'" Diana laughed. "My mother is the epitome of the word bitch. We didn't handle her. We just send her money and hope she stays in Florida. Since Dad died, she has had one 'man friend' after another. She's treated my husband like shit ever since she found out I was pregnant. Nothing he's ever done has pleased her. We keep a watch on her account. When it starts getting low, we make another deposit and call it cheap for the price. God help us if she ever decides to visit, but as much as she hates Jeff, we hope the visit never happens."

Diana stopped for a moment. "Whoa. You told us about your mom and dad; what about Dave's folks?"

Evie finally calmed down enough to sit at the table. "I guess I'll never understand people," she sighed as she slid into a chair.

"Next thing I knew, my dad is in my living room with Dave's dad watching a ball game, laughing and making comments that Dave is going to be 'pussy whipped, ' as if they just coined the term. When I left, Dave's mom had my mom by the arm escorting her down the hallway. I just hope the hell they don't end up in a fight. The one thing I'm certain of is if my mother keeps being a bitch, she's going to be locked out of the retreat while we have the wedding. Maybe freezing for a couple of hours will calm her ass down."

Diana knew better than to laugh, but it was hard. As she walked by her friend's chair, she put her hand on Evie's shoulder for a moment. "Just remember, no matter how pissed she makes you, and how much you want to say hurtful things to her right now, those words can't be taken back later, no matter how much you might want to. She'll come around. She's just worried about her daughter."

Evie let out an odd laugh. "Yeah, you're probably right, but can I strangle her for just a little while? Oh, I want to so bad."

Laughing, Diana grabbed Evie's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Let's all go back to your apartment. We'll treat her like everything is fine and try to include her in some of the preparations. It'll work out; watch and see."

Cindy and Rachel sat on the side of the living room about halfway down. The lights were low with just the stairway, the front near the window and the path the brides would take, lighted.

"It was fun helping serve our dinner cafeteria-style," Rachel commented as she idly looked around at all the decorations they had helped to put up.

"Yeah. That was pretty neat. I had a ball talking to those girls while we worked. It's strange to think about all four of them being married to the same guy, though. And Arlene is ... married to her dad. How weird is that, huh? Not to mention the women. Today there's going to be two more women joining their marriage, and one of them is Deputy Cramer."