Chapter 107

LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON:

As they were preparing to get off the plane in Boulder, "We forgot to buy Hope a coat," Diana fretted.

"She can wear mine until we can get her one," Jennie said with so much conviction that Diana could feel the sting of tears touch her eyes.

Jeff started to offer his coat, but a look from Diana stopped him. From long association, the 'Jennie needs to do this' came across quite well, though neither of the two spoke aloud.

Instead, Jeff said to Hope, "Once we're home, there will be plenty of coats for you to choose from until we can get to Winter Park and let you pick out just what you want."

"Yes, Sir," Hope replied, her eyes downcast.

"Not, 'Sir, '" he quietly said. "Just Jeff, remember? I'm still the Jeff you knew before."

"Yes, S... , uh, Jeff," Hope replied, but she couldn't look up at him.

Diana and the others could see the hurt flash across the Prime's face for an instant, but he quickly smiled. "Okay," he said as Kathy hit the switch that opened the door and extended the steps. "It's only a short way to the 'copter. In less than thirty minutes we'll be home."

On the helicopter a little later, Diana closed her phone and said quietly to her husband. "Melissa will meet us with a warm Escalade, and she's bringing another coat for Jennie."

"Good," the Prime said. "The cold is going to be a jolt to Hope, and she's had enough trauma lately."

On the ride to the Retreat, Hope, obviously enjoying the experience, had been looking out the window of the helicopter at the snow-covered mountains beneath them. After a few minutes, her youth began to assert itself, "Look there," she said to Jennie. "I saw something move down there in the snow."

"It's an elk," Jennie said, leaning close to the window, then pointing to the side, "and look over there. There's a whole bunch of them."

"Is it always like this?" Hope asked, her eyes big. "I've never seen an elk before, well, other than on TV or the net."

Jennie shook her head, a smile threatening to take over her face when she saw Hope's enthusiasm at discovering the animals. "No, sometimes we see several animals, other times, nothing. We've seen a lot of deer and occasionally a moose. Then there are a few grizzlies and some black bears. We've only seen a couple of the grizzlies. But you need to be careful when you go outside the Retreat. A grizzly almost got Jeff on his morning run a while back."

When Hope's eyes got big, Jennie hastily added. "It's the only one any of us have seen near the Retreat, but we never go outside without checking the monitors first, and we never go alone unless we're going to be in a vehicle."

Bill, flying right seat again, did a slow circle around the Retreat only a few hundred feet up so that Hope could see where she was going to live.

"It's beautiful," Hope whispered as she stared out the window. "It's like something out of a fairytale. And all that snow around it. Everything is so ... white. The building is sitting on that big ... flat place on the side of the mountain. Oh, it's beautiful." She hastily turned back to Jennie. "This is where I'm going to live?"

Jennie smiled at her, remembering the impact the Retreat had on her when she first saw it, and that wasn't even from a helicopter. "It's home, Hope. Just like I told you before. It's your home — forever. No one will ever hurt you again. Jeff will kill them if they try. And ... I would, too."

Arlene, as she heard Jennie's comment, let a grin take over for a moment as she remembered what Jennie had done to the mercenary, realizing that Hope had no idea that her sister meant the statement literally.

Bill sat the helicopter down, gently as usual, and Hope started to remove her seatbelt as soon as Bill killed the engine. "Let's wait a minute before we get out," Jeff said. "The rotors are well above our heads, but the down-blast in this cold isn't anything to encounter if you don't have to. It will only take a moment for the blades to stop, though."

"Plus the rotors blow snow and pellets of ice around that sting like crazy," Jennie added.

When the rotors stilled, Captain Reed opened the door for them, the icy blast of wind invading the passenger compartment and quickly dropping the temperature there.

Jeff was worried about Jennie being without a coat, now that she had given hers to Hope, but he refrained from offering his own because of what Diana had communicated. Tapping Jennie on the shoulder, "Scat, Pretty One," he said, without thinking how Hope might take the comment. "Hurry and get in the car before you freeze."

Jennie worried that Jeff was being too familiar with her in front of Hope, but then realized that her sister probably wouldn't think anything about Jeff's comment. It could very well have been something said between family members who lived together. I want Hope to find out about all of us being married to Jeff when I can break the news to her gently. I had better do it quickly though, before one of us forgets and kisses him in front of her.

"Watch the patch of ice," Jeff cautioned, pointing, as he stood just outside the door with Bill to help assist the women out of the craft. Then to Hope as she stepped out, "We had a bit of a thaw a few days ago, and some of the snow began to melt before it refroze the next night. The snow blower takes care of most of the snow, but the ice becomes hard as concrete. If we should salt or sand the helipad to take care of the ice, the rotors would kick the grains up like little bullets, not to say anything about needing to keep sand from the air intakes on the helicopter motor. So watch out for ice patches. They look innocent, but they can spoil your fun in a heartbeat."

"I've been in snow and ice before," Hope indignantly replied. "But just not this much of it," she admitted as she looked around, then hurried for the Escalade to get out of the cold wind.

When Melissa saw Hope exit the copter, she jumped out of the Escalade and ran to meet her. As Melissa and Jennie passed, Melissa tossed Jennie one of the "generic" coats that the Matthews kept near the Retreat's door. As the two friends met, Melissa engulfed Hope in her arms, the girls laughing and hugging each other. "I wanted to come," Melissa assured Hope, "but security had to be included. I was so worried about you when Jennie couldn't get in touch with you. We're sorry about Mr. Stewart..."

"Don't be," Hope replied, her face set, but she didn't have time to expand on her comment because Jeff came by and herded them toward the vehicle, and warmth.

"Short trip," Melissa joked a few moments later as she stopped the Escalade inside the garage and touched the button to close the door. The big heaters came on to blast down warm air on them as soon as the outside door was closed.

Up the stairs and into the Retreat proper a few minutes later, Hope was virtually attacked by Ann and Laura, while Susan stood back and waited her turn to greet her young friend. After the hugs were over, Diana stepped in to introduce Hope to everyone else.

Jeff stood back to watch, noticing that Hope repeated everyone's name as she was greeted, obviously trying to lock the names in her mind. Aspects of both an adult and a child, all in the last few minutes, Jeff thought. I wish I knew what has been happening to her. Maybe Helen can find out the details, but then again, she won't tell unless Hope gives her permission. The judge says the FBI agent he talked to thinks Stewart was going to sell her. How in the fuck can anyone sell his own child?

The judge also said that the two paramedics who responded and saved the agent's life might get fired, or at least get some major time off without pay. Bureaucracy, how did we ever do without it? he inwardly snarled. I need to get in touch with our lawyer and our accountant. The agent said he thought both of the paramedics were trying to save up so they could start college — something about wanting to be doctors. Looks like those two need to hear from a certain foundation. Damned if I'm going to let them go down after what they did for that agent and Hope. They even called DHR and the judge to check on her, and were worried that she wasn't speaking. Yeah, they need a free ride through college. I had to work my ass off to get through. Not to mention Diana having busted her butt to help out. God has been good to us, and now we're wallowing in money. Time to spread some more of that money around. Besides, Frank said he is selling the radar units at five times the astronomical price he charged for the test units, and production is struggling to keep up with sales to the military. He said I'm due to get another large chunk of money from my portion of the last sales. Plus my accountant is pushing hard for tax deductions. So yeah, those two paramedics are going to have a very interesting visit. They'll always wonder what that foundation really is, but they'll never find out. Grinning, his thoughts continued. I can't seem to give the money away as fast as I'm making it.

All the younger women, including Dave's younger wives, took off down the hall to escort Hope to her suite.

"What do you think, Helen?" Jeff asked Doctor Boswell as they watched the giggling and laughing girls turn the corner far down the hallway.

His wife smiled up at him. "Right now, I think she's getting some of the best therapy we could ever wish for. In time, I'll have a number of sessions with her, but I could never do what those girls are doing at this moment. Did you notice her laugh just as they turned the corner?"

"Yeah," Jeff said, "it's great to see that."

"That group of girls range from very smart to genius," Boswell continued. "You can rest assured that every one of them is trying her best to keep Hope's mind off her troubles. Hope is smart, and she probably realizes what they are doing, but still it works. Expect some bouts of depression, though. She won't always be laughing. Some women have problems for years, or even their entire lives, after they are raped, even if the rape happened at a fairly young age. And obviously, expect her to continue to be a little afraid of you for awhile, perhaps shun you, just because you're a man. She knows it wasn't you that did those things to her, but still, you represent the part of humanity that did do this to her."

"I know," Jeff said as he frowned, "but knowing it and accepting it are two different things. I guess it's something like being part of a minority. You get looked down on, just because of who you are, period. But I just want to hug her and tell her how sorry I am about what's happened. It keeps bugging me that I didn't look more into what was going on that night we walked into that house. I just seized the opportunity to get Jennie and Melissa away from their parents. I just didn't..."

"Hush," Helen whispered as she pulled his face down to kiss him hard on the mouth for a second. "Even our Prime isn't totally perfect. Even he makes a mistake on occasion. Now I need to catch up to the rest of your wives and get us something started for ... supper," she teased, changing the word at the last second.

"You can take the boy out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the boy," he said, changing the expression to suit the occasion.

"Oh, that's terrible," Helen laughed just before he slapped her on the ass and sent the genius on her way.

HOSPITAL IN ATLANTA

Sandra had fed Hanes his meal, such as it was. Both nurses were pleased that his appetite was back, but Hanes was not pleased with the clear liquid diet the doctor had him on. The nurses were gone for a few minutes before the door opened again and both came back in, closing the door behind them and pulling the curtains. Sandra had a plastic pan containing warm water, and Bobby had soap, washcloths and a towel. Hanes had a sinking feeling when they asked the agent sitting beside his bed to give them a little privacy for a while.

"Bath time," Bobby said, brightly as Sandra grinned like the Cheshire cat.

The agent was sniggering as he closed the door behind him.

"Uh," Hanes got out. "Set the pan down on my table and swing it across the bed. I'll..."

Bobby grinned at him as Sandra set the pan on the table, wet a cloth and soaped it up — but she did not swing the table across his body. Hanes could see the look in her eye, and after the episode with the spirometer, he felt the women, pretty or not, were likely to do anything.

Bobby took a washcloth and got it ready as well. "We did the best we could while you were unconscious, but you need a real bath now," she said as they started.

Hanes was in a predicament. One, he was desperately afraid he would get an erection if they even got close to his dick, and two, he, like most men, was worried that the embarrassment of them bathing him would cause his dick to shrivel up and try to run up his ass. Opposites, but both possibilities worried him, anyway.

The nurses, like most women, apparently able to read a man's mind, smiled sweetly at him, as he stammered out, "I don't want..."

Bobby, feeling a little sorry for him, touched his good arm. "How do you think that foley got where it is, hmmm?" she asked, glancing toward his groin. "There's nothing you have that we haven't seen. Remember, though, we do this for a living. Besides," she said, taking a chance, as she leaned over and whispered in his ear, "You have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Bobby," Sandra hissed.

Bobby's face flamed, but Hanes' chuckled. "Thanks," he quietly said.

As their bathing progressed down his body, Hanes began to worry again. Sandra matter-of-factly pulled the sheet below his naked groin, exposing his cock with the catheter sticking out of it. She held his cock up and washed it and his balls. Bobby took over with a wet washcloth to get the soap off, then Sandra dried him. They weren't rough with him, but they just got the job done; there wasn't anything sexual about it, nor did they comment once they had started, even as said cock began to swell.

After again covering his groin with the sheet, they went on down his legs, then as easily as if he were a baby, working together, they rolled him to his side to wash his back, then changed his bottom sheet in only a few minutes. They shaved him as if they had done it a hundred times, and obviously, they had shaved many patients. Finally, they finished by changing his top sheet. He was tired again when they were done, but he felt clean. Sandra had hit the pain pump before they started the bath, and she pressed the button again now. "Sleep," she quietly said. "Bobby is going home, and I'll be with you all night. But remember, though, now that you're better, I have another patient to attend to, so I'll be gone from time to time. The button is right by your hand if you need me."