Chapter 146

Jerry, the FedEx driver followed Dorothy (Dot) in her UPS truck. When they circled around to the back of the Retreat, he stopped to let Dot back her truck toward the steps, then he backed alongside her.

Driving up the mountain is a slow process, though the scenery is awesome, he thought, and the driveway is downright terrifying, but reaching the Matthews' home always makes the trip worth it.

Somehow these people have learned our full names and even our birthdays. I was here three days before my birthday. They had a little cake with one candle on it, and a card with a hundred dollar bill in it. I had the cake eaten before I got off the mountain, and that hundred dollars came in handy. These people are obviously rich, but even so, they help me unload. Dot told me they did the same thing for her. They have an iced drink ready for us in the summer and hot chocolate or coffee now that it's winter on the mountain. And ... Dot might not appreciate it like I do, but the eye candy is amazing, he thought as the women and girls came out the back door of the Retreat.

Arlene handed Jerry his hot chocolate as soon as he turned the truck off and opened the door. "Hey, Jerry."

"Good afternoon Ma'am, and thank you." He took a sip. "Boy, that tastes good. I have quite a few packages for you today."

"Mostly Halloween costumes," Arlene said as they walked around to the back.

"Hi, Jerry," Dot called out to her counterpart.

"Hey, Dot."

Ann waited until Dot had opened the rear door of her truck before handing her the cup of hot chocolate. Dot thanked her and took a sip before sitting the cup on the bumper. Both drivers stepped into their vehicles and handed out packages to laughing women and girls. In short order the packages had been delivered and the trucks were rolling back down the mountain. Not far from Martha's restaurant, Dot pulled over at a wide place in the road and Jerry pulled over beside her. They opened their doors so they could talk for a minute.

"The ride up is a bitch, but it beats stopping at twenty-one houses to deliver the twenty-one packages I just delivered to them," Dot said when his door was open next to hers.

"I only had fifteen," Jerry said, "but several of them were really large. But I agree; unloading is easy. Just shove it to the back and they take care of the rest. I didn't see Mr. Matthews today, though."

"Oh, he came to the door for a moment with a kitten on his shoulder."

"Rumor has it all those women are his. Think that's true, Dot?"

Dot finished the last of her chocolate. "Don't know, but like you say, it's a fun place to deliver to. I haven't been bitched at yet, and they all call me 'Ma'am.' They've spoiled me, though. I can't wait for Christmas. They gave each of us a hundred bucks for our birthday and I'll bet they do something nice for Christmas, too."

"Don't count your presents before they hatch," Jerry laughed. "But I hope you're right. My wife had her hours cut back due to this recession, or whatever the politicians are calling it this week. Christmas is going to be slender this year if they keep her at twenty hours a week. I've been trying to get her on with us, but we're not hiring right now, either."

Dot dropped the Styrofoam cup into the small trash can beside her seat. "At least she's working some. Ralph has been out of work for a month. Guess how our Christmas is going to be."

"Crap. Sorry about that, Dot. That really sucks." Then after a moment, "Guess we better roll. Take care. See you," he said, closing his door and pulling away.

Inside the Retreat there was the bustle of women and girls carrying packages, or pushing laden hand trucks as they hurried by. Jeff had come to the back door to help, but Diana told him he wasn't needed, which was shorthand for "this is woman business."

Adult Halloween party, he thought as he walked back down the hall toward the living room. I hope they don't get too carried away with it. Nat, Nicki and Whitney have never been exposed to anything like that, and Hope surely doesn't need to be. Technically she was a prostitute; she was forced by that shithead father of hers to do those things. Even as he thought about the adult party, the logical part of his mind intervened. Diana would never let things get out of hand. Selina has told us how she sneaked around, particularly at night when she was supposed to be in bed. No way will Di chance Selina seeing something she shouldn't.

"What're you thinking about?" Diana asked as she walked into him with a slight bump, pressing her breasts against his chest. Reaching up to scratch behind Billy's ears as he rode Jeff's shoulder, she continued, "Why such a long face? You thinking about your sexy costume for tomorrow night?"

Before he could answer, she pulled his head down and kissed him. Without further ado, she strutted on down the hall. Today, she had worn her hair in a ponytail that arched up from high on the back of her head before falling almost to her butt, just as the younger wives were wont to do much of the time. The long thick spray of auburn hair swayed in time to her steps as she pranced away while Jeff wondered.

Inside Art's suite, Bobby and Sandra put two big boxes in the corner of the walk-in closet. "That's a surprise," they said in unison.

" ... so stay out of them, please," Bobby finished for them.

"You didn't really do that, did you?" Art asked.

"Do what?" Sandra said, looking all innocent. "The paint is water soluble. It washes right off, or at least the instructions say it will."

Art's heart rate picked up. I know they're teasing me. Surely they're teasing me. There is no way I'm going to wear a painted-on outfit, crotch guard or not. Besides, that thing glues on. No frigging way am I going to stick something onto my groin. Glue and crotch hair don't mix, and there's no damn way I'm going to shave there. Shit.

The sisters finished with their packages and came up to him as he now stood in the doorway between the sitting room and the bedroom. "What's the matter, Big Man? You're not going all bashful on us are you?"

"Ladies..."

"Oh, come on, Spoil Sport. You're gonna like your costume and you're going to love ours."

"Yeah, but sprayed on..."

"We promise," they said together.

"Now go visit with Jeff, or take a walk. We need a little time alone," Bobby said.

"Time alone?"

"Yeah, we need to try on our costumes. We promise you'll love tomorrow night after we get home from the trunk or treat," Sandra said.

"Trunk or treat? You mean trick or treat don't you?"

"No silly," they said in unison.

"It's trunk or treat," Sandra said. "You'll find out about it tomorrow night. Now get, Lover. We have things to do," she finished as the nurses, laughing, pushed him toward the door.

What the crap is trunk or treat? he wondered as the suite's door closed behind him. Hell, at this point I'm almost afraid to find out.

Arlene and Selina came hurrying into the living room where Jeff was sitting. "We need Billy, Dad."

"Need Billy? Uh, he's there by the window."

"Come here, Billy," Selina called.

"Mmeeow," the kitten said, bounding over.

"Careful about volunteering, Little Dude. You never know what women have in mind, and this doesn't sound good," Jeff said to the kitten as if he could understand.

Billy turned to look at Jeff, but Arlene grabbed the kitten to hold him up in front of her, turning him this way and that as she looked at him. "Yeah, this will be great. Let's go."

In the hallway, Arlene stretched her steps as Selina jogged along beside her. Shortly, they turned into the Matthews' suite. "We got him, Mom," Arlene said as they hurried into the bedroom.

"Good, I found some bright red vinyl material for the cape, and something that I think will make some realistic horns. Let's get him measured."

But Billy didn't want to be measured, and took great offense to the tape measure. When they tried to measure him, he batted at the tape, then twisted and knotted into a ball, trying to escape. Frustrated, Diana turned to her mother. "Mom, it's your turn."

"My turn for what?" Then Susan realized what Diana meant. "No. Absolutely not. No way am I going to ... I don't even like cats."

"This isn't a cat. He's a kitten," Diana said. "There's a saucer on the vanity. We only need a small amount; just enough to keep him busy for a couple of minutes while I measure him. He hasn't had his milk today."

"No. No. No! I am not going to milk myself for a cat."

"Meemi, are you going to deny my kitten?" Selina said in her little girl voice that she reserved for very special occasions.

Susan stared down at the child who appeared ready to cry. "I know what you're doing, and it isn't going to work," she said, but there was a tinge of desperation in her voice, for she knew she couldn't deny Selina if she started to cry.

"Please," Selina whined.

"Don't you dare start crying," Susan tried to grump. After a moment, "Oh, all right. I haven't expressed myself today, anyway. Somebody get me the saucer."

Selina hastened to get the saucer. When she brought it, she hugged Susan. "Thank you, Meemi."

Susan smiled in spite of trying not to. "I still don't like cats," she said as she pulled her top up and began to express her milk. Selina winked at Diana.

Arlene realized that Susan hadn't tried to hide what she was doing from Selina. Oh, well, Selina is female, and she acts so grown up it's hard to think of her as a child, and what Meemi is doing certainly isn't sexual.

Arlene was now holding a very interested kitten. As soon as the first stream of milk hit the saucer, he began to windmill his legs in an effort to get to the milk. "Mmmmmeeeeowww," he said, drawing out the sound.

Shortly, he was lapping Susan's milk and ignoring the measuring tape that Diana was using.

Jeff had called Dave and Evie in for a conference. After they were seated by the fire in the living room, Jeff began. "I talked with General Whitworth a short while ago. He has contacted his FBI source in Atlanta and has learned that Grigsby, the agent who was in charge of the group protecting Art, is now assigned to head up the FBI office in Denver, and will be in the Denver area in the next few days looking for a house. Apparently, he has had some marriage problems, but he and his wife are back together now."

"This is the Alpha, right?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, and I want him as near to us as possible. Maybe somehow get him situated on this side of Denver. I want to have Little One enhance him and his wife. That might very well help us to gain another contact in the FBI, and this one will be much closer to home. Not to say anything about the responsibility I feel toward another Alpha."

Dave and Evie looked at each other. Breaking out in laughter, Evie looked first at her husband, then at Jeff.

"What?" Jeff said, a half smile on his face as he wondered what she was laughing at.

Evie mimicked a kiss at her husband and said, "We bought another house a couple of weeks ago, and ... my husband said it was a good deal, but I couldn't see how we could make enough money on the house to bother. He always does things like that. We always make money when he's so certain we will, but with the economy the way it is, I can't see how we are going to do more than break even this time."

"Oh, come on, Baby," Dave said. "I've lucked up a few times when I've had my feelings, but you've seen things that I overlooked, too."

"I've heard all this before, so will you two quit that, and tell me what's going on," Jeff said, laughing.

Now giggling, Evie turned back to Jeff. "My husband insisted on buying a very nice house twenty-five miles or so from Denver. On this side of Denver. The owner took a job as CEO in a company in New York, and he and his wife had to move in a hurry. We found out about the move from one of our foreman's wives. To shorten the story, we stopped in to see the owners before they had even talked to a realtor. We agreed on a price, and bought the place. We could have offered less, since he was in a bind to sell, and he would probably have taken it, but we're not going to make money by cheating someone. We don't do business that way."

Evie reached over to take her husband's hand. "We've never intentionally cheated anyone. We've lost money a couple of times because we screwed up our bid, or the price of materials increased, but we finished the projects the way we promised. For years now, we've had to turn away work from time to time. Our company has an excellent reputation and that reputation has brought us a lot of work."