Chapter 78

TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 15

Diana met General Whitworth in the hall as he was looking for Jeff. "He's in the living room, General. How many for breakfast?"

Whitworth paused to look at her. Mrs ... but the look on Diana's face changed that to, "Uh, Diana, the choppers brought in field rations..."

"What? Nobody comes to my house and eats field rations. Admittedly, all the teams got yesterday was sandwiches while Arlene was being healed, but that's not going to happen now. It will be one thing when the security team gets moved into the ski lodge and can provide for their own cooked meals, but until then, everyone eats with us."

The General tried one more time. "Diana, there are a number of these guys, and well ... they expend a lot of energy..."

"I guarantee none of them will eat more than my husband. Now breakfast will be served in the large dining room at six. My sister-wives and I will be very disappointed if all that food goes to waste. Also, I realize that some of those people will be on guard duty. There will be fresh food put on the breakfast bar when they come in. Besides, this will be a good test run for Friday when all the wedding guests will be here."

Jeff was sniggering when the General walked into the living room, having seen his wife, hands on hips, talking to Whitworth. "Problems?" he innocently asked.

Whitworth glared at him as he keyed his radio. "This is Whitworth. Breakfast in the large dining room at zero six hundred hours," he announced, before walking over and pouring himself a cup of coffee from the carafe on the serving cart.

General Whitworth had assumed that the family would eat in the kitchen where they always did, never suspecting that they would think of eating with the two teams. But as the General's people came in and lined up for the breakfast bar, the women joined in, deliberately timing their arrivals to mesh with the men and women from the base. The Mathews clan, including Dave's women, Bill's women, and Margaret, were all dressed casually in jeans or slacks with conservative tops, playing down their beauty to some degree. Unlike what most of the troops expected, the women didn't appear arrogant or stuck-up, despite obviously living in luxury. Instead, the women laughed and cut up, and were careful to thank the troopers for coming to help.

The new girls and Susan sat together, but the rest of the women sat with whomever they happened to be talking at the moment. All the women had their wedding rings on though, and they made a subtle point to display those rings as they reached for food at the bar, or while talking. The point was clear: we're sitting with you to show that you are welcome here, but we're married.

Reminded by the General, Lieutenant Richardson and Sergeant Gomez had discreetly let each person on the forensic team know to wait for Colonel Matthews to say the blessing. He always had a short prayer before he and his team went on a mission, and when he could, before they ate, but Whitworth was making sure there would not be any embarrassing moments at the Matthews' home. When everyone had a full plate and was seated, Jeff gave thanks for the food and his family having survived the ordeal, also giving thanks for his team and the forensic people.

As the meal was winding down, Diana stood. After gaining everyone's attention, "Again, my family and I would like to thank you for coming to help us. My husband, and my sister-wife Helen were hurt during this attack, and my daughter was almost killed by these..." her voice faltered for a second, "creatures who called themselves men. Good riddance, and I hope they burn in Hell," she said, vehemently. There was a chuckling from the audience as this beautiful woman who projected an unconscious air of dignity, suddenly voiced her ire with those who had attacked her family. Then, just as quickly, the gracious woman was back as she continued, "You will always be welcome in our home. That statement isn't just words strung together. I mean it from the depths of my heart. Don't be strangers. Come visit. And while you're here this morning, I would like to introduce our newest members of the family. Some of you already know them, for you rescued them from Ingles."

Motioning the girls to stand, Diana introduce them, then told about the twins being sixteen today. That produced a round of happy birthday wishes from the group, which in turn produced very red-faced twins.

Jeff sat back, sipping his coffee and watching his Queen, still amazed at her after sixteen years of marriage. The room was again silent as a tomb as everyone listened to her. With a quiet word, she could command absolute attention from a room full of people, yet there was no arrogance or anything else of that nature about her.

As his Queen continued, Jeff thought, She has been the one who has brought all of us together — brought each of my wives into the whole — made them part of the gestalt. More than that, somehow she has taught them to act, almost literally, as one person. She says it comes from me — something I project. But it's Diana who molds them into one. And now, with a few simple words, she has left an impression with these people that they won't easily forget — ever.

He saw Susan watching him, instead of watching her daughter. He winked at her, and Susan smiled back. Well, my, my. Is the Ice Queen thawing? he thought.

Caitlin and Joyce stood hugging Jeff. Joyce kissed Jeff furiously, leaving both of them gasping. "You were too tired, and it was too late for you to service us when you came to bed last night," she quietly said as she unconsciously straightened and re-straightened his collar as she spoke, not wanting to give up his nearness. "I was off listening to crap at that class. Crap I'll never use, and because of that damn school, I didn't even get to kill a single one of those bastards when they attacked. And I can't even complain about it to the guys and gals I work with."

Then suddenly sobering, "I'm being selfish. You need to make love to Arlene tonight — spend some extra time with her. She's putting on a good front, but ... she met death yesterday. Met him, shot him the bird, and came back to us. Nobody comes that close to death without being marked by it to some degree. Anyway, been there; done that."

"I know, Baby. I know. I'm worried about Arlene, too. I've already pulled her aside and held her for a little while this morning. I'll take your advice and pay special attention to her when we make love tonight."

Caitlin, who had been hugging them both, looked at her watch. "Rats, gotta run. I'm liking this job less every day." Quickly kissing Jeff, then Joyce, she was gone.

Jeff mentally crossed his fingers. He surely didn't want her job to go badly, but he wanted all his wives with him all the time. That's what I get for being attracted to strong-willed women, he thought.

Jeff, Diana, Dave and Evie were sitting at the kitchen table. Jeff looked at Diana, "If you had rather I call them, I will."

Diana stood to get the phone from the counter near them. "Oh, you mean, because I'll have to lie to them? Yeah, well, they should have used a little more discretion in their hiring of those two. Because of that, Vasquez and Guterrez put all my family at risk and almost killed my daughter. I don't have any problem with lying to them so we're finished with this."

After getting the manager of the cleaning company on the phone, Diana assumed an air of anger, demanding to know why the cleaning people had not showed up for their regularly scheduled Monday cleaning of her home.

The manager, flustered, admitted that the other two customers that the crew should have serviced later in the day had already called to complain that his people had not shown up. "Ma'am, they didn't return the van last night, either. I have no idea what happened. I've already called the police here in Denver, and the Sheriff in your area. There haven't been any wrecks recorded with a cleaning van involved. I have no idea..."

"Just cancel my Wednesday cleaning for the wedding, then," Diana interrupted. "I'll make other arrangements. I have a wedding coming up. I will not tolerate people who don't show up for scheduled work appointments, and whose company doesn't even keep track of them."

"But Ma'am. I have other crews, and we'll..."

"No," Diana snapped. "I don't want your people in my home. Your people decided to take off for the day and you don't even know about it. I'll call you if I ever decide to use you again." She slammed down the phone.

"Wow," Jeff said. "You sounded like you meant it. I thought you might have trouble lying..."

"Who says I didn't mean it?" she said, turning to him. "Remember, it was his employees who came in my house and tried to kill us, and almost succeeded with my daughter. Maybe he didn't have anything to do with it, but the people he hired did. I don't want any of them in this house ever again. I'll either get some other company to do it, or else my sister-wives and I will do it ourselves."

Evie caught Diana's attention. "There's a company in Winter Park that we've used for the final cleaning before we put the houses we've redone on the market. They've given us good service. I have their number on my laptop, if you want to call them."

Diana did, indeed call, and a few minutes later, she was talking with the owner. When Diana explained who she was and what she wanted. He asked for her address. After she gave it to him, "Are we talking about the big, private hotel near the ski lodge that had the avalanche a couple years ago?"

"Well, there's an abandoned ski lodge on past the retreat. So I guess we're talking about the same place."

"You have a driveway that goes up a cliff face, right?"

Diana chuckled. "Yeah, I think that about describes it."

The cleaning service owner laughed. "My wife and I drove up there when the hotel — uh, your retreat — was about half finished. The driveway was gravel then and there were no guardrails..."

"It's been paved and the guardrails are quite substantial now," Diana interrupted, but there's another thing. We have several young women who live here. If you send men up here and I catch them ogling any of us, I'm going to be very displeased. Normally, we do most of our own cleaning, but we are going to have a wedding here Friday night, and we'll have guests starting to come in on Thursday. I'll need a minimum of four people here all day Wednesday. None of the rooms and suites are dirty, as far as that is concerned, but they've been vacant for a while, so they need to be dusted, the vanities, sinks and mirrors wiped down; things like that. Plus I want the kitchen and both dining room floors done, and the living room fireplace cleaned. I would feel better with six people Wednesday. After that, we'll need a major cleaning next Monday when all the guests have gone. That will probably be at least two days' work. From then on, we'll only need two people a half-day or so on Mondays.

The owner could feel his bank account getting bigger. "Ma'am, I could promise you something, but then I might not be able to deliver, and I sure don't want to start things off with you mad at me. Look, I have two married couples working for me, and I think I can do some rescheduling so I can send them up on Wednesday. I can guarantee you that they won't be staring at any of the women. Let me see what I can do about their schedule, and I'll call you back in a few minutes. Would that be all right?"

"That would be fine," Diana returned. "I'll be waiting on your call."

A little later, Dave had the monitor on and the camera trained on the road at the bottom of the driveway. "There goes the first of the dozers," he said as he stood. Draining his coffee cup, he watched several other vehicles go by. "I have two electricians coming in with their helpers. The power company is scheduled for later today, and also the phone company. If things go right, we'll have the place up and running by tonight. Lots more work to be done, of course, but we'll have the minimum the teams need to stay there."

"I'll do the walk through with Jeff and Diana," Evie said. "You go on and get started at the ski lodge, if you want to."

"I haven't noticed anything..." Jeff started.

"I know," Evie said, "but the General wants all of us to check the place out together, and I agree with him. We wouldn't want one of the wedding guests to find a bullet hole or an obvious blood spot somewhere we haven't thought to look, or the equipment somehow missed."

The phone rang. "Matthews' residence, Diana speaking."

"Uh, Ms. Matthews..."

"Mrs.," Diana interrupted. "I'm proud to be married."

"Uh, yes Ma'am. Mrs. Matthews, I've managed to reschedule those people we talked about. I can have two married couples at your home at seven Wednesday morning. They will stay until the work is done. I can have them back Monday and Tuesday of next week to clean up after your guests, and Wednesday also if it takes it. Would that be satisfactory?"

Diana discussed rates with him, and after they agreed on a price, she said, "We have security at the bottom of the drive. They will ask to look inside your cleaning van."