Chapter 1

When Jeff awoke the next morning after the wedding, alone, it was after eight. As he started to relieve his bladder, he realized the head of his dick was swollen and discolored. It hurt worse this morning than it had last night when he went to sleep. He showered, shaved and slipped on his clothes, then got an idea. He had kidded once before about his dick needing a sling, so he dug around until he found a scarf and fashioned a sling. He placed it around his cock like you would if you had a sprained arm, and tied the scarf to his belt, leaving his dick hanging out of his pants, supported like a broken arm.

Well they can show their pussies and say they are broken. Why can't I put my dick in a sling?

A couple of minutes later, he walked down the hall. Since his dick was hanging out of his pants, it soon was about half erect. Trying valiantly not to laugh, he abruptly stepped into the kitchen with his dick swinging back and forth supported by the sling, and proudly announced, "I'm broken. Should I sit in the hot tub like everybody else?"

All eyes riveted on him. Doctor Boswell coughed, snorted and spewed coffee all over Melissa. There was dead silence.

"Ah, shit," Jeff choked out, whirled and stumbled out the door.

A few minutes later, Diana entered the living room to find an ashen-faced Jeff sitting in a chair staring out the window. "It's okay, Baby. She knows."

"No shit, she knows," Jeff growled. "I think I just announced it in terms that anyone could understand."

Diana sat in his lap while trying to keep a straight face. "Jeff, we didn't expect her back, either. We had given her a key and the alarm code, though. She walked in as we were finishing breakfast. Everyone was wearing their rings, and she spotted them almost instantly. We gave up and explained the whole situation to her, minus a few things you did to Jack and Arnie," she said, nuzzling his neck while quietly chuckling.

"Quit worrying. The girls are all legal. They are all past the age of consent. The only legal marriage that exists is yours and mine. The other wives belong to you though, without a doubt, but legally they're not married to you. The only potential problem is Arlene — incest. And when have you ever heard about anyone being prosecuted for that unless a minor child was involved?

"Helen has accepted that we have an unusual relationship and has told us that she had figured it out, anyway. She was getting ready to tell us something about that when you walked into the room so dramatically."

Diana tried to suppress another little giggle. "I swear that has to have been the funniest thing I have ever seen. Then the look on your face when you realized that Doctor Boswell was there was priceless. Everybody is still laughing, and Helen is laughing as much as anyone, maybe more. She was doubled over in her chair holding her sides when I left. She was even trying to laugh while she was choking on the coffee. She grabbed her napkin and blew coffee out her nose; that had to have hurt, but she was giggling like a schoolgirl." Diana added, "Helen also said you had a very impressive instrument, and she's sorry it is broken. Of course she descended into hysterical giggles again after that."

"Shit, Diana, I had no idea that woman was there. She said she wouldn't be back until late today. What the crap is she doing here this morning? Even if she doesn't try to get the authorities involved, she's got to think that I'm the biggest idiot around."

Diana laughed and kissed him. "She definitely thinks you're the biggest, all right, but idiot has nothing to do with it. Now come on, let's go get some breakfast in you. You're bound to need it after last night." She kissed him again and asked, deadpan, "Does that thing really need to be soaked in the hot tub?"

Jeff ignored her question. "Shit, Diana, I can't go back in there," he said, as Diana tried to pull him to his feet.

"Jeff Matthews, how many times have you told me to just trust you? Now it's your turn. Just trust me and come on. Now."

Stopping just outside the door to the kitchen, Diana said with a little snigger, "I dare you to open the door, say ta-da, and make a little bow."

"Diana, I ... ah hell. In for a penny in for a pound as they say."

Doctor Boswell was obviously trying to compose herself, still fighting an almost uncontrollable bout of the giggles, when Jeff made his entrance. Boswell laughed, but it didn't take a brain surgeon to tell the girls were worried.

Jeff, girding his loins, walked over to the teacher, touched his hand to her shoulder. "Doctor Boswell, I humbly apologize. I had no idea you were here. It was a dumb stunt..."

"So, I'm Doctor Boswell again? What happened to Helen?" When Jeff tried to answer, she interrupted, "I'm still Helen, and that was the second funniest thing I have ever seen?"

Jeff couldn't help it; he had to ask. "The second?"

"Yes," she said, putting her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle that threatened to overwhelm her, "the first was ... the look ... on your face ... when you saw me ... sitting here," she gasped out, hugging both arms tightly across her stomach.

A few minutes later, Jeff sat at the other end of the table, still shaken. The girls started filing by to tell him good morning. They didn't hold anything back; rather, they seemed to have come to one of their silent agreements. Jeff gave up and went with it, spending time with each of them, kissing and hugging.

When Laura and then Diana came by also, Doctor Boswell suddenly started sobbing. The girls mobbed her before Diana and Laura could get there, hugging and asking Helen what was wrong. Jeff felt chills go down his spine. Now her true feelings are going to come out. She is going to tell us how she felt sexually harassed by my display of idiotsy.

"No, no, you didn't do anything. I'll be fine," she finally said, after minutes of sobbing. "I'm not crying for what's happened here. I'm crying for what I have lost."

"Yes, we know it must be terrible losing your husband so tragically..."

Boswell gulped and tried to get the words out. "I'm not just crying for my husband ... I'm crying for Martha, too. And for what we all lost."

When everybody stared at her, she fought to continue, "You see, we had what you have. Everybody was so pious when the rescuers found a woman in the car with him. The gossipers had a field day talking about John being killed while out 'running around with another woman, ' but he wasn't 'running around;' they were just coming home. Martha was as much a part of our marriage as John and I were. I didn't lose just one person that I loved; I lost two — both of them. Seeing all your wives," she said, looking at the women, "loving your husband just got to me. I have never really cried for John and Martha. Oh, I shed a few tears at the funerals, but I have never broken down. I just couldn't, somehow. But when I saw the love you have for one another, I remembered, and finally felt what we had — and lost." She put her head down on the table and sobbed again.

The sobbing went on and on. No one could console her; she didn't even acknowledge them. Jeff had never heard of anyone crying that long — not just crying but hard racking sobs. She kept holding her left arm, trying to rub it while she sobbed. All the girls were crying. Diana and Laura were fighting back tears.

"Jeff, we've got to do something," Diana said worriedly, looking at Helen.

Doctor Boswell would have fallen out of the chair had it not been for Jennie. Jeff scooped the crying woman up. He walked down the hall with her, everyone trying to help. As he turned into a bedroom next door to the "honeymoon suite," Diana objected. "No, put her on our bed. We've got to get this stopped."

"Diana, I don't think..."

"I've never heard of anyone seriously hurting their health by crying, but she's not responding to us. Her eyes are unfocused. Those paramedic courses I took never said anything about this, but she doesn't look good."

Jeff quit arguing and carried her to their suite, putting her gently on the bed. The deep racking sobs continued, although, there didn't seem to be any tears anymore. He didn't know whether that was good or bad.

"Arlene," Diana ordered, "get my stethoscope. It's in the box it came in. I know it was in the back of the closet in the other bedroom before we moved to the 'honeymoon suite.' I don't know where it is now."

"I know where it is," Melissa said. "I remember bringing it from the other closet. I'll get it."

By the time Melissa had returned with the stethoscope, Diana had taken Doctor Boswell's pulse. "Oh, Jeff, it's so fast I can't even count it, and it's very irregular."

She put the stethoscope on, and after partially opening Boswell's blouse, listened to several places on her chest. After a minute or two, Diana took the stethoscope off and looked at Jeff. "Obviously, I don't fully know what I'm doing. But I do know that a heart isn't supposed to sound like that. Jeff, I'm pretty sure she's having a heart attack. We need to call 911 and get an ambulance."

"I'll do it," Laura said, picking up the phone.

"No," Jeff said, then more strongly, "No."

Laura dropped the phone back into its charging cradle.

"It will take an ambulance at least thirty minutes to get here. Then, who knows how long to get to a hospital." Looking down at the now faintly gasping woman, he said, "She'll be dead before she gets to a hospital."

Jeff stood for a moment before he seemed to come to a decision. "I'll be back in a minute. No one calls 911!" he barked, glancing around the room.

Everyone froze and looked at him as he turned and ran out of the room. A couple of moments later, he was back with the Healer. Diana tried to see what he had, but he held it at his side away from her. All she could tell was that it appeared to be something made of an almost translucent substance a little bigger than a thick paperback novel, and it had rounded corners.

"Everybody out," Jeff said in a voice that brooked no argument.

Diana fought the urge to obey, and managed, "But Jeff, I'm afraid she's dying."

"I promise you she will be fine," he said, turning and staring into her eyes. "Out now," he repeated, although this time his voice held compassion.

Diana turned to go, herding everybody else out in front of her.

When the door closed, Jeff quickly stepped toward Doctor Boswell. A few seconds later, he felt the inquisitive mental touch of the Healer as he brought it close to the gasping woman.

An hour dragged by. Diana had started to open the bedroom door twice; both times, Jeff had rebuked her, almost harshly. At last, he cracked the door and called her. She got up and hurried into the bedroom.

Jeff was standing by the bed looking down at Doctor Boswell, who appeared to be asleep. The sobs and gasping were gone, and she seemed to be breathing normally, although her color still didn't look right to Diana. She didn't see the device that Jeff had been holding when he ran everyone out, but there was a suspicious bulge under the sheet that covered Doctor Boswell's chest.

Jeff glanced up at his wife as they bent over the sleeping woman, "No one looks under that sheet until I say so. I pulled her top off and unhooked her bra. You can remove the rest of her clothes, and maybe put pajama bottoms on her if you want to, but keep her chest covered while you do. She'll probably be very deeply asleep all day. I'll wake her late this evening so she can drink something. When she is awake, we'll need to feed her a little, of course. But count on her being asleep most of the time for the next two or three days."

"Jeff, what was that... ?"

"Don't ask, Diana, and I won't have to lie to you, now will I?" he said in clipped tones, then brushed past her as he started to leave the bedroom. Turning, he spoke again, his voice harsh, "Remember, Diana, no one looks under that sheet for any reason until I say it's okay."

In seconds, all the women were in the room asking questions in hushed tones, having heard Jeff's order. Diana raised her voice, "Jeff said Doctor Boswell will be fine. He also emphatically said that none of us were to look under the sheet for any reason, until he told us we could. Obviously, for some reason, he doesn't want us to look at whatever he brought in here. We will honor that. Is that clear to everyone?" she asked, looking at each of them in turn. At their nods, she continued, "She will sleep most of the time for two or three days." Diana, turning to her daughter, continued, "Go find your dad. He is really stressed right now, and I don't have time to speculate about it. Just find him quickly. Sit in his lap. Stick your boob in his mouth. Do what you have to, but do not let him make you leave him. Stay with him. Go right now."

Arlene looked at her for a second, then ran out of the room.

Diana looked at Laura and reached a decision. "Let's get her clothes off; get some pajama bottoms on her. We can just bunch the sheet on her chest, do the rest, then straighten the sheet back out without looking under it."

A few minutes later, they had everything fixed in the bedroom, having managed to change the bottom sheet on the bed, as well. They had even brushed Helen's hair and washed her face. She seemed to be either deeply asleep, or unconscious, but since Jeff had said she would be fine, everyone was trying to believe it.

Straightening up from bending over Helen, Diana looked around her. "We're going to have to watch over her." Hesitating a moment, she added, "I think two of us should stay with her at all times. Maybe two-hour shifts will do it. Arlene will stay with her dad until we figure out what's wrong, so that leaves only five of us. Someone will have to double up on the shifts. We'll take care of that later. Okay, who's first?"

Jennie and Ann volunteered before the others could say anything.

Diana glanced at her watch and looked at the two girls. "Go get yourself a book or something to do. I thought about just leaving the bedroom door open with you two in the sitting room. You could watch TV that way, but I'm a little worried about doing that, so just run get you something to pass the time, then come back in here and stay. And," she said, delaying them as they started to leave, "I'll find Jeff and Arlene. I'll call you and give you the extension number where Jeff is. I'll also give Arlene instructions to keep you updated wherever he goes. If Doctor Boswell should get worse, I want you to know the extension where our husband is so you can call him quickly."

"Okay," they chorused, then hurried out.

"Laura, would you and Melissa take the next shift?" she asked, looking at them. When they nodded, she continued, "I'm going to bring a coffeemaker and some snacks down, then I'm going to find Jeff and try to figure out what's bothering him. Everybody knows that I fussed at him about lying to me about whatever he does with the military. I suppose that's what he was talking about, but I don't understand why he was so upset. And I don't understand why he's hiding whatever he used on Doctor Boswell, but I imagine it has something to do with the military."

She started to ask Laura and Melissa to stay until Ann and Jennie got back, but they came rushing in before she could ask.

"Di, go find Jeff. Melissa and I will get the coffeemaker and the snacks," Laura said. "As soon as we have that taken care of, I'll fix Jeff breakfast. It's almost ten and he hasn't eaten since dinner; not to say anything about him fucking six females senseless last night," she finished, grinning.

"Thanks." Diana hugged Laura for a second and started out.

A few minutes later, Diana pushed the sliding door open onto Jeff's favorite deck. Arlene was sitting on his lap kissing him. From the wet splotches on her top and the obviously erect nipples tenting it, she guessed that Jeff had been nursing. Diana smiled at her mental choice of words. Her husband didn't like to nurse, rather he sucked titty, or sucked her milk. She doubted he would be in the mood to take care of her, regardless of what he called it, if his attitude hadn't improved considerably.

My breasts are full again. I guess I'll have to use the pump. First though, I'm going to try to have a talk with him.

As Diana got close to Jeff, he reached out and pulled her to him. Arlene scrambled out of the way, and Diana allowed herself to be pulled onto his lap.

As Jeff started to kiss her, she said, "Wait a second, Jeff." Turning to Arlene, she instructed, "Call the 'honeymoon suite' and give Ann and Jennie the extension number here so they can get Jeff quickly if they need him."

Arlene picked up the phone, dialed, then said, "He's on the deck at 151. If we go somewhere else, I'll call and give you the number ... Okay. Bye."

Jeff grinned, said, "When did you need to keep track of me? Every one of you knows where I am all the time."

Responding as if he meant his question literally, although Diana suspected he was just grumping, she answered, "We all know where you are, generally. I mean, we know about where you are, but this place has so many rooms that Ann and Jennie need to know the extension where you are in case something happens with Helen."

Jeff just looked at her and frowned. "They won't need me. It..." he faltered, then stopped.

When he didn't say anything else, Arlene turned to her mother. "I'll go and get Daddy something to eat."

"Okay, Honey. Laura is already doing that, but you can help her."

Arlene left the deck, and Diana kissed her husband. When Jeff broke the kiss, he said, "I'm sorry, Baby. I have some problems, but I shouldn't have treated you the way I did in the bedroom."

"Don't worry about it. I know you're stressed." Considering a moment, she asked, "Jeff, what was that thing you had? Obviously that's what took care of Helen. I know she was having a heart attack. I took her pulse and listened to her heart again just before I came out here." Seeing the look on Jeff's face, she quickly added, "I just slipped the stethoscope under the sheet, and I made sure not to touch whatever that is you put on her. Her heart sounds a lot better, and her pulse is down to about a hundred and ten. Can't you, please, tell me what's going on?"

"Diana, I..."

"Fuck this military secret bullshit," Diana hissed. "You just saved her life. You said she would be fine, and maybe she will be, but her heart isn't perfect yet. The rhythm is still wrong, although she seems a whole lot better. Do we need to get her to a hospital?"

"No, Baby," he sighed, "I think she will continue to improve. I don't know just how long it will take, but two or three days should do it. She should be back to normal ... that includes her heart. By then it will be perfect."

Diana, still sitting on his lap, turned and straddled him. Staring him in the eye for a moment, she continued, "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

"I can't, Baby. I really, really can't."

I can't make you understand that I literally can't tell you, he thought. I've already breached security by letting you see the Healer, let alone using it on someone where people know it was used. The Colonel will have a shit fit when he finds out, and that won't even start to describe the General's reaction.

Aloud he said, "Baby, I know it's hard on you, but please understand I just can't talk about this. I'm probably already in some deep doo-doo for ... using..." he managed to get out before stopping, his face turning gray.

Diana suddenly sat bolt upright. "You can't, can you? You literally can't." After a minute, she quietly said, "Ah, shit," mimicking Jeff's favorite comment. Putting her fingertips to his lips she said, "I always thought that you meant you couldn't tell me things without violating your security. And that's okay, I understand that, although, it does piss me off from time to time. But you didn't mean that you had to maintain secrecy, and wouldn't say. It was more than that. You literally could not speak about the things I asked, and now this thing...

"Oh, Jeff, what are you involved in that they would do this to you? Surely this is more than just military secrecy bullshit. Crap, they think how many eggs you had for breakfast is 'need to know.' But this is even more than that, isn't it?"

Jeff just looked at her. "Diana, I..."

Suddenly, she fiercely hugged him. "Shit," she muttered over and over again, "Shit."

After awhile, Jeff started to slide her top up. Diana pulled back, though. "Not now. Oh, you know that I would love that, but Laura is fixing your breakfast. Let's go get your tummy full, then we can check on Helen again." I can use the pump. Jeff is more important than my little bit of discomfort, and we really need to get some food into him. As Jeff started to protest, Diana continued, "Come on," she said, standing and taking his hand. "We can talk later. We need to have a plan for when Helen wakes up."

Arlene had gone to the "honeymoon suite" with a coffeemaker and snacks. They already had soft drinks in the fridge. Jeff sat in the kitchen sipping coffee while Laura and Diana finished putting his breakfast on the table. They got coffee for themselves and sat with him.

Jeff glanced up as they sat. "After all the times I have cautioned the girls to be circumspect about our relationships, what do I do but come up with the most dumbass thing at absolutely the worst time possible. Saying that I feel like an idiot isn't even close."

"Well," Laura sighed, "Like the girls were kidding about, a sore pussy has gotten to be a badge of honor with them." Looking at Diana and winking, she continued, "I guess Di and I have fallen into that category as well. Just about all of us have shown our naked crotches in that doorway, so why shouldn't you? Quit beating yourself up about this. Instead, I think we need to discuss what the outcome is going to be as far as our teacher is concerned."

"I agree," Diana interjected, "but, Jeff there is something that I think you're overlooking about what's happened. First off, nobody gets a heart attack from crying, no matter how hard they cry, unless that heart attack was imminent, anyway. Oh, she might not have had it for a few days, maybe a month or two, but it was coming. The sobbing and the stress of her finally breaking down over her husband and lover set it off, but she could have had it driving up here, or climbing the stairs — anything, or swimming laps yesterday, for that matter. Her having it when she did probably saved her life. Had you not used that ... whatever it is, she would have died. I don't think anyone at this table thinks she would have lasted another five minutes.