Chapter 109

Jeff watched Jennie lead Hope to the other end of the kitchen where Jennie and Melissa started showing Hope how to help out with breakfast. Every now and then Hope would look back at Little One, Hope seeming to make sure that her mind hadn't been playing tricks on her, and that there really was a small alien in the kitchen.

When Jeff again held his collar open, and Little One flowed in to spread across his back, Hope couldn't take her eyes off the process. Jeff smiled at her, and left to go shower.

Hope did what she was asked to do, accepted things that were shoved into her hands, put out tableware, and put stacks of plates and bowls on the steam table, all the while marveling at the overall process. Again and again, she expected some of the women to bump into each other as they all moved rapidly about, crossed and recrossed each other's paths while continuing to laugh and chat, apparently not worrying about collisions. They're having a ball. How can fixing breakfast be fun? They walk fast as if there isn't anyone else in the room, yet they never bump into each other, and they seem to do everything very quickly. She turned to look at the men, Jeff having returned from his shower. They're sitting on their asses, drinking coffee and joking. Probably telling bullshit stories about how many women they fucked last night.

Arlene leaned over Hope's shoulder and spoke near her ear as Hope put a container of fruit on the bar. "Mom won't let them help. She says they're men, and will only get in the way and slow things down. They're good for lifting stuff and reaching high places, though — and fucking," she whispered with a giggle. Arlene was gone before Hope could think of a reply.

When they ate, Hope sat by Diana and Jennie again. Hope felt self-conscious as if everyone were looking at her, but after awhile, she realized that they were treating her just as they treated everyone else. She, however, couldn't think of anything to say. What could I talk about? Hmmm, I guess I could tell them I fucked six old men last week; made my father a lot of money, she sarcastically thought. I only got beat up once, though. And, oh yeah, Father tried to sell me to some foreign dude, but they got in a gunfight, instead. Everybody is dead, and I'm a whore out of a job.

Hope felt a gentle hand on hers. Odd, she seemed to sense a soothing warmth wash over her. "The bad thoughts will pass," Diana quietly said. "Give it time. Give us time."

Diana squeezed her hand and smiled at her. A smile that Hope managed to timidly return. She glanced to the head of the table to see Jeff looking at her, an expression of concern on his face. He quickly looked away, then said something to... What was his name? Dave. I think his name is Dave, she thought.

Melissa came by and grabbed Hope's hand. "Come on, Girl. That's not nearly enough food. Let's go get a plate of fruit."

Alesha and Caitlin had left for work. Diana had sent Joyce to bed. (Joyce had worked her usual night shift for the Sheriff's Department.) The dishwashers were chugging along and all the leftover food had been put away. Ann pushed a serving cart out the kitchen door on the way to the living room. The cart was laden with coffee and sweet rolls, and the men had followed it like they were starved. A laughing Selina trailed in their wake.

"They're going to get fat," Hope said, proud that she had come up with, at least, something to say.

Evie's eyes sparkled. "Well, it's a thought. But I think Little One took care of that when she enhanced us. The only thing overeating does to Dave is make him sleepy, then he wakes up horny."

Hope blushed, but Arlene bumped her shoulder with hers. "Chill out, Girl. You might as well get used to it. Put us women together and we can't seem to go five minutes without talking about sex. We just have to watch our mouths when Selina is around."

Hope noticed that Tina was blushing as much as she (Hope) was. The three new girls were grinning from ear to ear at having been included.

"Okay, Ladies," Diana said as she tapped a spoon on a coffee cup to get their attention. "Let's get our plans together." Laughing, everyone sat at the table, and Diana continued, "Tina, Selina and Hope need clothes." Diana looked toward Nicki who was nearest the door. "Go get Selina back in here, please. I forgot to tell her about the meeting."

The meeting was carried out much like the rest of the things the women did together. All the Alpha wives seemed to be on the same "wavelength." Shortly, the meeting was over, the women were off to get dressed, and Arlene was assigned to tell the men to get ready.

As soon as Arlene stuck her head in the door of the living room and gave out her proclamation about their shopping trip, Dave stood. "Well, I have to get my ass down to the farm and supervise the cleanup there, then get the crew up here to get the classrooms finished."

"Chicken," Jeff said, knowing that any one of Dave's supervisors could take care of everything.

"Damn straight," Dave laughed as he escaped out the door.

Jeff looked over at Bill and Frank. "You guys have something to read?"

"Yeah, I have some work I need to catch up on," Wainwright said. "I can bring that with me."

"I thought I would just stay here," Bill said. "I can stand an hour or two of shopping, but this looks as if it is going to be a major shopping spree."

"Hah," Jeff laughed, "you have two women now. Somehow, the more you acquire, the more determined they are that you have to suffer while they shop. Don't tempt fate. In other words, don't piss them off; just give up and go along — smiling. Trust me, you're going to go, anyway. You might as well pretend to enjoy it."

Jeff got up and took a couple of steps away, keyed his mike and alerted his security detail. Reading from a piece of paper that Arlene had pressed into his hand, he gave the lieutenant a tentative list of the stores the women were heading for and in the order they wanted to visit them. He had told the Lieutenant last night that the women would probably go shopping today, so this wasn't a total surprise to him.

When Jeff signed off, he said to the other men. "I think we are already the talk of the town with our 'parade' of Escalades, but now that we have the security detail to add to the parade, the rumor mill will be hard at work before the day is out. Oh, well, what the fuck. According to Caitlin and Joyce, I'm already referred to as 'the rich guy on top of the mountain.'"

Wainwright chuckled, "Hah, the cars aren't the half of it. Probably more like 'The rich guy on top of the mountain with all those women.'"

Bill and Frank got to their feet, and Bill slapped Jeff on the back, "My women and I were riding around a while back. We stopped at this little meadow just outside of the Rocky Mountain National Park. There was a big bull elk standing there, and he had about thirty cows in his harem. Kinda reminded me of someone I know," he laughed as he hurried out the door before Jeff could mock punch him.

"We have to get that boy another couple of wives," Jeff laughed. "He's entirely too cocky."

"So, how long do you think it will take to get Hope in your bed?" Frank asked, trying hard to keep his face straight.

"Frank, that isn't even a little bit funny. In case you haven't noticed, that young lady flinches every time I come near, and unless I'm reading her wrong, she is darn close to detesting me."

Frank had gotten to the door, but hearing the sincerity in Jeff's voice, he turned back to the Prime. "I only know the little you've told me about Hope, but Jennie's her sister, and we both know that Jennie isn't going to put up with Hope trashing you, if that's what you're thinking. Seems to me that I remember you had another female come up here a short while back, and there was no doubt, at least in her mind, that she was going to set her son-in-law straight, once and for all. And where was Susan last night, my friend? Hmmm?" Wainwright said with a grin.

"Bill isn't the only one who needs a couple more women," Jeff groused as he headed for the garage to warm up their vehicles.

A laughing Wainwright started for his suite to pick up his laptop. Jeff is right though. This is going to be a long day. Suddenly he snapped his fingers and called out to Jeff. "Wait up a minute."

When Wainwright caught up with the Prime, "You still have that list of stores."

"Yeah, sure."

"Let me have it. I think I might be able to make things go a little smoother for Diana and the rest of the women."

Jeff handed the list to Frank. "Sounds good," he said as he turned back for the garage.

As soon as Wainwright was in his suite, he was dialing. It's just a friend of a friend kind of thing, but I seem to remember... When, Ray Tingle (Wainwright's vice president at Wainwright, Inc.) answered the phone, Frank said, "I seem to remember that you mentioned an uncle who..."

Selina met Diana and Helen as soon as they came out of the Matthews' suite. "My Queen, if I might have a moment of your time, I would like to discuss something with you."

"Certainly," Diana replied.

"My clothing, accessories and various other items are being shipped and will be here tomorrow. With their arrival, there will be little that I need, and I have a credit card that my parents left with me for such future purchases. I am able to buy anything I need on the Internet with the card. In addition, there are several establishments in my area at home where the personnel know me and will allow me to make purchases with a credit card. However, my parents apparently did not think to leave money here or put money into a fund that I might draw upon for local purchases. The personnel at the stores we are surely going to will not be familiar with me, or my family. It is highly unlikely that the store clerks will accept a six-year-old using a credit card..."

Diana squatted down to be nearer Selina's height. "Your money is no good here, Selina, and your parents did try to set up a fund for your local purchases, but we declined the offer, telling them the tuition covered everything, and it certainly does. There is also something that we've been putting off telling you, but I guess now is as good a time as any. Helen?"

"You tell her, Di. I had little to do with..."

"Oh, yes you did. It was your idea, now quit being modest and tell her."

Helen also squatted by Selina. "Jeff wasn't kidding when he — well, all of us — welcomed you to the family. You are a member of this family now."

"Tell her," Diana encouraged.

Helen went on with a rush. "We sent the check for your tuition to our accountant. The money, and what it earns over the years, will be in a trust fund in your name until your twenty-first birthday. You should have a nice little nest egg by then. Particularly, if your family decides to keep you in school here throughout your education, because that tuition money will also go into the trust fund. We ask that you not tell your parents about the fund. You did say that part of their decision to put you in my school was because it was the most expensive. Right?"

"Yes," Selina quietly answered, "but..."

Diana broke in with, "We'll give you a credit card to use on the Internet, but you are family now, and there is no way our Prime will allow one of his family to use someone else's money."

Selina could only nod her head. "This is not necessary, My Queen. My family is quite wealthy and I am sure they will provide a substantial sum for me once I reach my majority."

"Well, with what they provide, plus your continuing tuition and what it earns over the years, you should be well set when you're grown, then."

"Thank you, Doctor Boswell, and thank you my Queen. I shall thank our Prime when I have the opportunity."

"In the meantime, Arlene has a card for you to use, and we'll alert the personnel in the stores where we'll be today, as well as the shops we frequent in Winter Park, that it is acceptable for you to use the card at your discretion, in case you might want to buy something when one of us isn't right there with you."

Selina hugged both of the women, and they started down the hall, each woman holding one of Selina's hands. The smile on Selina's face couldn't have been any bigger.

The Matthews clan, in their little caravan of Escalades, rolled down the mountain road accompanied by their security escort.

Diana had opted to ride with Jeff. Helen drove a vehicle, Laura a third, and Bill a fourth, the family spread out among the SUVs. Diana knew that Jeff was communicating with security, because she heard an occasional word as he subvocalized on his radio. One of the security vehicles ranged out well ahead of the others to "scout out" the road; another vehicle was just in front, and there was another taking up the rear. All security personnel were in civilian clothes.

"All this security is ridiculous," Jeff muttered to himself, his voice barely audible to his Queen. "If this kind of crap keeps up, we're going to be on the six o'clock news. Hell, I half expect the General to send in air cover," he said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "We're just going shopping, for crying out loud, besides," he added, "all my wives are armed, and nothing is more dangerous than a pissed off woman."

Jeff's muttering was becoming funnier to Diana by the moment. Also, thanks to Little One, she felt so good all the time that a smile seemed to constantly adorn her pretty face. They were just passing Martha's restaurant as Jeff made his comments. A couple walking in from the parking lot stopped and stared.

"Did you see that?" Jeff said as he glanced at his Queen. "Just like last time. Two people stopped and stared at us."

"So what?" Diana laughed, "chances are they have never seen this many Escalades all driving down the road at the same time."

"When we get to Winter Park, we're going to be as subtle as a dump truck in a mine field," he grumped as he glanced in his mirror to check on Helen's vehicle.

Frank Wainwright, sitting in the second seat directly behind Jeff, leaned forward and commented, "You'll get used to it. My security force certainly isn't anything like you have, but generally, every wealthy family must have some type of security. After a while, you tend to just go on your way, ignoring them unless they have information for you, or you need to tell them where you're going."