Chapter 96

Phillip and Dessie had just started down the driveway in the Escalade. Neither had yet spoken about what had been going on, then, "Well?" Dessie said.

Phillip sighed.

"That's not much of an answer," his wife returned, then as their lights shot out into the darkness over the abyss as they rounded a switchback, she hissed in a breath and cringed. "I had to see that ... that ... thing when we left to go to Winter Park, then when we came back. Now, with the darkness, at least I don't have to look down into that ... place again, but my imagination might be worse," she finished with a shudder.

Phillip chuckled. "I guess I was thinking about our daughter before. I forgot about your fear of heights."

Security came to attention as they drove past.

On the county road, Phillip finally said, "Our daughter seems intrigued with the Matthews, and Wainwright swears by them. Still..."

"We wanted a place that would take full responsibility for her."

"Yeah, but they want full legal control of her. We can't back out of the deal for two years"

"We can if Selina wants out," Dessie interrupted, "or there's any type of abuse ... It's just what we wanted, but ... it seems a little ... cold on our part."

"That's a ridiculous amount of money they'll be charging for tuition — and it's not refundable, but they will also be taking full responsibility for her. We can go wherever we please; stay as long as we wish. And we can visit her anytime. Let's think about it tonight; make our decision in the morning."

They were quiet for a time, then Dessie looked over at her husband. "How smart do you think she really is?"

Phillip slowed for a hairpin curve, wary, since there had been patches of ice the snowplow had missed, then when they were past the curve, "She's fooled us for a good part of her life. Boswell knows Selina is smart, but Boswell didn't try to hide her knowledge from us. Selina has played us for fools. No, that's not right. She hasn't tried to insult us, just kept us from knowing how smart she really is. How could she do that? Why didn't we pick up on it? To think that she could do it is the scary part. Now, I'm pretty damn sure she's a genius. But we didn't have a fucking clue until that accountant wanted to know about all those charges. How in the hell could we be so stupid? Shit."

"You know what our answer will be," Dessie quietly said. "Why don't you call Turner and tell him to talk to their lawyer? Get the lawyers working on this together."

"It's Saturday night. No use..."

"As much as we pay him?" Dessie snarled. "Call him and get him started. Tell him what we tentatively agreed with the Matthews. Let's get it in writing. I want to start our travels."

"You still want to see Dane and Lacy tonight? When I checked with them on the phone, they said they would be waiting. We'll have to use their suite, though. Phil Junior said he was going out to eat with that other family and their son, but he said he would be back by nine."

Dessie reached over and rubbed his cock. Said cock began immediately to swell. "Feels like you want to see them, too, and I'll bet Dane can wring a lot of tension out of me, and Lacy can mellow you out, too."

Phillip chuckled as he concentrated on his driving.

Diana and Jeff were standing in their bedroom. " ... We need to move her down to our floor," Diana told Jeff. "She's way up there by herself. Her mom and dad won't be back for a couple of days. Regardless of what they decide, Selina needs to be closer to us."

"Well ... they left her in the Wainwrights' charge, originally. But I agree; she shouldn't be on that floor by herself."

"I've talked to Margaret. She was going to put Selina in the suite next to hers, but she says it's okay to move Selina closer to us. She and Frank know that Selina will be in our school."

"So, go get her. I guess you can put her in the other half of the double suite the girls are in, now that Kayla has moved into our suite. That should work just fine."

Diana hugged her husband, pushing her breasts against his chest the way she knew he liked. "We all need to start watching what we're wearing when we're out of the bedroom. We have a young mind in the house with us now."

Jeff smiled down at his wife. "So, you're going to start laying down rules for her ... and us. Better think carefully before you do. She doesn't have much experience with life, but if she's a true genius like Helen thinks, rules that fit a child's character may well be an insult to her."

"I know," Diana sighed. "It's been so long since Arlene was that age, and she was ... with us from birth. Rules just came about naturally, and by the time she was any size at all, most children's rules just didn't seem to apply to her — or her friends. She and they were unusual children. Now they're your wives," she teased. "Their high intelligence doubtless swayed us when we thought about setting down rules, not to say anything about your influence as an Alpha. Until Arnie came along — and Jack — we didn't have any problems with Arlene. But Helen thinks that Selina is even smarter than Arlene. In a way, that kind of scares me.

"When Selina's mother and father were here, Selina acted like a six-year-old — a smart six-year-old who was trying to please her parents. The second they walked out the door, she changed; even her face changed. Intelligence just seems to literally leap from her eyes. She's a dichotomy. One sentence is a six-year-old's, then the next seems to come from an adult mind. She seems to want to be a child — play and explore, then there's the adult aspect that shocks me speechless with her ... stilted sentence structure, I guess you would call it — and her vocabulary. It's as though she ... doesn't know what to be."

Jeff kissed the top of Diana's head, then talked into her hair as he held her close. "She's probably used the child's persona so much that she just automatically goes back to it from time to time. I suspect a lot of that will take care of itself. With us, she can just be Selina. She'll find her place with us. With Arlene and my younger wives to interact with her, and the new girls, it won't be long. Stop worrying, and let her be what she needs to be. And ... I won't walk out in the hallway with nothing on but my under shorts. That please you?" he laughed.

"It's just that..."

"Hush, My Love," he said as he leaned down to press his lips to hers for a moment. "Go get your new daughter and bring her down here."

"Oh, Jeff. I'm already falling for her. If her parents decide..."

"Let them think about it for a while, and let things jell. We have the outline to an agreement, and they wanted this from the beginning. They were trying to find a boarding school. Remember, Selina says her parents will go for it. We scared them a little with wanting legal control of Selina for two years, and ... we know what will happen after Selina spends two years with us. Let's begin our relationship by trusting her. Now go get your daughter."

Diana started to knock on the outer door of the Albright suite when the door opened and Selina almost walked into the Queen.

"Oops, sorry," Selina said.

Diana smiled at Selina. "I just came to get you. We want you to be closer to us. No use your being up here by yourself."

"That is fine with me, Mrs. Matthews, but I am not afraid of being alone."

"What's this?" Diana said, nodding her head to the partially-filled pillowcase Selina was carrying.

"Due to our scheduled short stay, I only brought two changes of clothing, in addition to the clothing I was wearing, of course. I intend to wash my things. I've already found the utility room on this floor."

"We would wash your clothes for you..." Diana began, but her voice faded away when Selina frowned.

"Arlene told me that you only had people to come in once per week to do some of the heavy cleaning. Otherwise, you and your..."

"Sister-wives," Diana supplied.

" ... sister-wives do everything else. She said it was because you did not want to act like so many rich people do. Our servants washed my clothes, but that does not mean that I'm unaware of the correct procedures. One of the ladies we employ taught me to wash clothing properly."

Diana, remembering what Jeff had said about Selina finding her place, said, "I'm sure you can, but why don't you use the washers and dryers on our floor. There's a suite open next to the one occupied by the new girls."

"New girls?"

Diana smiled. "We used to call Arlene, Ann, Jennie and Melissa the girls. But we have three additional girls who have just come to live with us — Nat, Nicki, and Whitney — you talked to them at supper. There is a long story associated with them, but I'll let them tell you about it when they're ready. Anyway, sometimes we used the word 'girls' a bit interchangeably, I guess, occasionally even confusingly. This time I meant the double suite occupied by Nat, Nicki and Whitney. Kayla lived in the other side of the girls' suite until recently. She lives in our suite now. There is a nice single suite next to the girls' that I think you will like, and it will give you more privacy." Jeff and the girls, also, she thought. "We talked about your being part of our family, if your mother and father decide to let you attend our school. No use family being so far away from us."

Selina stared up at Diana's face. "You really mean that about family, don't you?"

Diana couldn't keep the smile off her face. "When our Prime says someone is family, then they are. Shortly the ties will be unbreakable, so if you have any reservations about us at all, now is the time to voice them."

Selina mentally filed the "unbreakable" comment, but her mind was set to wondering.

"Doctor Boswell mentioned that Mr. Matthews was an Alpha, but she did not elaborate. I am curious to understand the full connotations of this Alpha designation. Now you say that Mr. Matthews is a Prime as well. From my brief conversation with Doctor Boswell, plus your comment here, as well as the fact that Mr. Matthews has several wives, I am forced to conclude that a Prime is ... an Alpha of Alphas. Am I correct?"

Diana stood looking down at the child that had just seemed to morph into a very intelligent adult. Almost laughing, the Queen reached down and hugged Selina to her. "As Jeff would say, 'Close enough for government work.' Yes, he is an Alpha of Alphas, and I'm his Queen. Life doesn't get any better than what I have, and now I've just been blessed with a beautiful new daughter. Why don't we pack up the rest of your stuff and get you moved down where we can all be closer to each other? We can put your clothes in a washer on the first floor, and tomorrow or the next day we'll go shopping to expand your wardrobe."

Selina turned to go back into the Albright's suite, Diana following. "I would love to shop for new clothing, but I also need to call home. I can have my substantial wardrobe sent here. I have several non-clothing items that I would like to have, also. Would that be permissible with you Mrs. Matthews?"

"Not Mrs. Matthews. I answer to Diana, and yes, certainly you can have your possessions sent here, if your parents concur."

"Addressing you by your given name seems ... disrespectful. I have always addressed adults by their surname, except for my parents, of course."

"Well, let's just stick with Diana for the time being. I promise to not be offended."

Selina smiled up at Diana. "My parents won't object to my moving my clothing and other items, but I will ask their permission. If I am to stay here, which I fully expect will happen, then I should transfer all my clothing. I am growing quite rapidly. The clothing that I leave at my former home won't fit, should I return there for Christmas. I fully expect my parents to be somewhere else in the world during Thanksgiving, though."

It didn't take Selina and Diana long to put Selina's things in her suitcase — most of her clothing was in the pillowcase, anyway. Selina picked up her laptop and reached for the handle of her rolling suitcase, but Diana, already holding the pillowcase of clothes, beat her to the suitcase. "I am perfectly capable..." Selina started.

"And courtesy dictates that I help," Diana interrupted. Then meeting Selina's eyes, Diana continued, her voice changing, "Do you want, and I mean really want to stay with us and attend our school? It will entail becoming part of our family. And I mean that literally."

"You know I do," Selina answered very quietly.

"Now is the time to decide if you want to back out, Selina. This is no child's game; this is for real. Jeff welcomed you home. Right now, no matter how smart you are, you don't fully understand what he means. As I've said, even with that fabulous mind of yours, you don't yet fully comprehend what a Prime is. He will bond you to him, and we're ... part of him. The bond is unbreakable — there is no going back — ever. I can already feel the bond forming, and I'm falling in love with you. I'm a Prime's Queen, Selina. There will be a bond between us, too. Once those bonds form, we will fight to keep you with us. We will not willingly give you up. Should your parents, at some point in the future, manage to take you away from us, we will all hurt — badly, you included."

"You speak of this 'bond... '" Selena started.

"It can form in several ways, and we don't fully understand everything about it. It can be formed with sex, and other ways, but it can also form by close association with Jeff. When he holds you and is near you..." Frustrated, Diana stopped. "He will fall in love with you — we can all feel it already starting. Love has a lot to do with it, and maybe there is a further mental aspect to it too. We're new at this and none of us fully understand it. But Selina, it is real. If you want to back out, I'll call your parents right now."

With that statement and the thought of Selina leaving, Diana felt a tug of dread/sadness cross her heart. No matter what she had just told Selina, she remembered Jeff welcoming Selina home, and the emotions that she (Diana) felt when he said those words. She prayed Selina would not tell her to call Phillip and Dessie.

Selina stood silent for a moment, realizing just how serious Diana was, then, "I made my decision when I asked Doctor Boswell for admittance to her school. I wish to stay here, and I will continue the endeavor of convincing my parents, although, I think there is little doubt that they will approve my request. I wish, profoundly, to be part of your family."

Diana dropped the pillowcase of clothes, leaned down and hugged Selina tightly. There were tears rolling down the Queen's cheeks as she whispered, "Welcome home."

As Jeff walked into the bedroom where his wives were waiting for him, he turned to Diana. "I guess I thought you would put Selina in the other side of the girls' suite."