Chapter 50

As soon as Susan walked in the kitchen door, Arlene, Ann, Jennie and Melissa surrounded her. "How does it feel, Meemi?" Arlene said, a grin splitting her face, "How does it feel to feel so good?"

"I..." Susan started, then, at a loss for words, she grabbed Arlene and hugged her. "I almost feel like I'm floating. I feel ... different, beyond wonderful. I've never felt like this."

Ann whispered in Susan's ear, "Have you thanked him yet?"

Susan blushed as she looked over Ann's shoulder at Jeff who was now sitting at the head of the table. "Well, no. I got a little excited when I saw..."

"Arlene told us you about freaked out."

"Yeah, and I guess it was a little more like that," she admitted.

"We'll talk later," Arlene broke in as she pulled on Susan's hand. "Come on and help us with breakfast."

But Susan resisted. "Be there in a minute," she said as she looked at Jeff. That prick is sitting there knowing I have to thank him. Why didn't I do it in my suite? Now I have to do it with everyone listening. Still, the only ones here are his ... so-called wives. I might as well get it over with.

Walking over to Jeff, she took a breath to say her little speech when Jeff's hand shot up and grabbed her neck, pulling her down to him? His mouth took possession of hers for a good fifteen seconds, his tongue coming to tease, her efforts to resist his strength, useless. Then suddenly, she didn't want to. Although she didn't know it, he had pushed a small amount of pheromones for a few seconds. She shivered and he suddenly released her. "You're welcome, Mom," he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Arlene grabbed her Meemi's hand again and dragged her over to the wives as Susan unconsciously touched her tingling lips. Diana grinned a little evil grin and quietly said, "I told you he would mess back if you messed with him. You started it. He has always had to put up with your shit before, but he doesn't now. And ... we told you he had changed. Either sit down and call a truce with him, or figure out your retaliation."

Before Susan could get a response out, Caitlin hurried in.

"Oh, don't you look nice," Laura said, then, "I expected you in your uniform, not a suit."

Caitlin stopped, looking a little embarrassed. "Well, this position went from Charge Nurse to Unit Manager, to whatever it is right now. They called and told me that we would be in meetings with manufacturers reps and drug reps for the next several days. I've already e-mailed a beginning list of things I think will improve the care we're able to provide our patients. During my first week, we're supposed to review basically everything they use in the hospital. I love nursing; I just hope they don't forget that," she fretted.

Jeff came up behind her and gently rubbed her ass. "Wife, you'll do fine, and I'm sure they won't forget you're an intensive care nurse. Can't ever tell, you might like this job even better. Sounds like you're pretty much going to get your way about what the hospital uses. From what you've said, there are plenty of nurses who would love to be able to choose the things they use instead of having some purchasing agent decide based on how many kickbacks he gets."

Kayla came into the kitchen and walked up to them. "Looking good," she said to Caitlin, then teasingly, "I see Hubby is still playing with your rear. What's the matter, didn't you guys give him enough last night?"

Caitlin smiled back at her. "Thank you for the compliment, and as to the other, if I had 'given him' any more, I would be walking funny when I get to work. That's all I need to start off a new job," she laughed.

"Well, at least they would know you're happily married," Kayla chuckled as she started around to hug everyone.

Jeff grabbed a carafe of coffee, cups and fixings, put them on a serving cart, and headed for the living room to get out of the way.

He met Frank, Bill, and Dave coming down the hall. Shortly, Jeff started a fire as Frank poured the coffee. After handing each man their cup, Frank pulled a seat over to join the others as the fire began to lick at the logs.

Jeff took his first sip for the day as he glanced over at Frank. "Not quite light out yet, but best I can tell, the weather looks okay, so I guess you're riding to the airport in the copter this morning."

"Yeah, I just talked to the pilot. He'll be here at seven-thirty like we planned."

"You mentioned that the new business was doing fine, and told us a little about it, but how about an update?"

Frank blew on his coffee, took a tentative sip and said, "I think I told you I ordered a second helicopter just like the one we have. Should be here in another week."

At Jeff's look, Wainwright went on, "Reed has already had to rent another copter to keep up with business. His wife has been flying the rental copter in the daytime and trying to do the books at night. I had Tingle send a couple people down to get the office started and to hire someone to run it on a full-time basis. Seems like the business has taken off," he laughed.

All the men chuckled at his little pun, then, "But how much did the advertising cost?" Dave asked.

"Oh, well, there's advertising, and then there's advertising. We did use the media a little, but I made a few phone calls and had Tingle make a few. I talked to the TV station manager and made a deal with him for access to their clip that showed the 'hard landing' that got Reed fired, plus the clip of the nurses, doctors and cops running beside Joyce's stretcher as they hurried to the trauma unit. My people made up a nice little presentation. I made some preliminary calls and had my people follow up with the presentation, but to use your expression, Jeff, it was shooting over a baited field since I had already talked with most of the executives.

"I had a discussion with Reed about pricing, but we wound up with a fee that's about one and a half times what the competition is charging. He was worried about not getting any business because of the higher cost. But the higher cost implies quality, which we have, both in the quality of the ride and the pilots. Most of the people we contacted don't have cash flow problems, to put it mildly, and hell, it's a business expense, anyway. Some of them had already signed up after my call and before our presentation even got to them," he laughed. "I've done quite a few of these people favors, or my company, or a subsidiary has. They might want another favor in the future. I didn't exactly call in a favor, though, just asked them if they had seen the thing on TV and reminded them that the pilot had been fired for coming in with a full-powered landing. They know damned well that I'm involved with the new company, so quite a few of the people I talked to now ride with someone who deserves a break. No big deal. Hell, in a couple of years, the company will be in the black — maybe even before then. And ... our passengers are riding in luxury with some very good booze in the bar."

Wainwright took another sip of coffee. "The crew I sent down will have a professional office up and running in no time, and they'll see to hiring whoever he needs to keep it that way. We have a contract with a reputable company for maintenance on the copters. I've told Reed that safety is first — absolutely first. Hell, with the flying he had to do for the hospital, landing in school yards, on highways, at night, and worse, this is a piece of cake for him. And that doesn't even take into consideration what he and his wife did in Iraq."

Just to gig Frank a little, Jeff asked, "I thought you didn't fly with anyone other than Bill, yet you're flying with this guy?"

Wainwright looked embarrassed for a minute. "Well, Bill has a rotary license, too. And besides, he's going to be there, just not necessarily in the cockpit, although, he has been flying left seat on flights out and back so far."

Bill spoke up. "I've watched him like a hawk. Reed is an excellent pilot, and even his 'hot landing' at the hospital was more of a loud landing that pissed off the administrator. The pilot didn't do anything wrong, and I imagine it was quite mild compared to what he had to do under combat conditions in Iraq. He had a doctor screaming at him to hurry, and he did. But ... in the process, he violated what the administrator considered to be one of his inviolable rules."

Wainwright broke in with, "I'll bet that asshole ex-administrator wishes he hadn't been quite so arrogant when we met with him in the hospital, though. Might still be the administrator. Damned if I was going to let that pilot go down for helping to save Joyce's life."

Dave winked at Jeff where Wainwright couldn't see.

Jeff caught Wainwright's eye. "You need to have those two pilots come up for a meal, and maybe stay the night with us. They need to be in good health," he added. Everyone there knew what he meant.

"Excellent idea," Frank agreed. "I'll set it up."

Dave brought his recliner back to a sitting position and reached for the coffee carafe. "You have two of your wives who will be using vehicles every day now, or at least five days a week. Heck, I guess Joyce won't have any off days for the foreseeable future. Maybe I need to go back to using my pickup for a while."

"Laura's SUV is still at the airport and we're using the copter now," Wainwright broke in. "Maybe we need to get the vehicle back up here."

"Yeah, and as sure as you do, the weather will be bad Friday afternoon and the copter won't be able to fly in these mountains. Best just leave the SUV there."

"People at the hangar are taking care of it for us," Bill chimed in. "They're starting it regularly so the battery doesn't go down."

Dave motioned with the pot, and Jeff held out his cup for a refill. "Thanks," he said to his friend. Then to everyone, "Problem already solved. We're getting two new Escalades, but I have no idea what color. I told the dealer anything except pink, Tonka yellow, and that bright lime green. They're going to be armored and are at the place that does that now. The dealer is also going to equip them with snow tires and send us an extra set of wheels with regular tires already mounted. The dealer said they were scheduled to come in shortly and he will deliver them as soon as they do, and oh yeah, they'll be keyed like the others so any of our Escalade keys will work with any of them."

"About time you took the armor route," Wainwright said.

"Yeah, you're right," Jeff replied.

When Jeff saw the look of amusement on Dave's face, Dave said, "Two more Escalades."

Jeff grinned and went on, "Hell, we're already being called a parade. The Escalades work for us, so I'm just going to stick with them. Of course I still like to drive my Expedition, but the women all like the Escalades."

"What about the threat of this prick — what's his name, uh, Hagewood?" Dave said after taking a sip of his coffee, I assume that's the reason for the armor."

Jeff took a deep breath and blew it out. "If I had my way, Caitlin and Joyce would stay right here with us, but ... that isn't going to happen. I've gone over firearm basics with Caitlin, and she has fired a few rounds. She has also shot a rifle when she was younger. As soon as you get the inside range done, I'll bring her up to speed." There was quiet for a moment, then, "Fuck, it worries me to death, but I can't talk them out of working. I was going to hire an escort for them or do it myself, but I ran into a firestorm. Joyce says it would be an insult to her with the position she has as deputy, and Caitlin says she'll just shoot the bastards on sight. I made them study the pictures of the two assholes that the sergeant sent us. I'll also put a copy in each of their new vehicles when they come in so they won't forget."

There was a pause while the men thought about things, then, "I have the original crews coming back this morning to start on the indoor range and the school rooms. I've already unlocked the back basement door for them and they know where to go, and to stay away from the first floor. We need to make sure all our women know that the crews will be here so..." Dave said.

" ... Jeff's women will stay out of the basement and the second floor so your guys don't walk around all day with bulges in their pants," Bill finished for him laughing.

"I'm glad you told your crews that," Jeff said, grinning. "It really hurts my feelings to tell all my women to put their bras back on. Oh, yeah, how about you and Evie working to update the computer as the crews arrive. I don't know the names of all the workers."

"Yeah, we've already talked about that. We'll take care of it."

"Come and get it before we throw it out," Diana said over the PA.

"Let's go," Jeff said getting to his feet. "I'm hungry this morning."

"And ... that's something different?" Dave laughed.

"I'm glad Jeff is paying for all this food," Bill said, mock-seriously, "Ever since he's done whatever he's done to me, I can't seem to get enough to eat, either."

"Yep, there is that," Wainwright laughed as he started for the door, "but in addition to the appetite, my dick seems to want to stay up all the time, too. I swear it didn't get up this much when I was sixteen."

"So when are you going to add some more pussy to your life?" Jeff kidded him as the men walked out of the living room together.

"Shit, Jeff. Don't even kid about that. I haven't even married Margaret yet. If I start talking about someone else, she'll kill my ass. But she's spent the last couple days on the phone making arrangements for the wedding. I'm sure any of your wives knows more about it than I do, though," he laughed.

"Well, I usually find out when I see my clothes laid out on the bed," Jeff said as he held the kitchen open for the others.

"That soon?" Bill chuckled sarcastically as he walked past, "Hell, they let me know a whole day ahead of time."