Chapter 280

..."Okay, Ladies," he said, leaning back in his comfortable seat. "Let's have it." The Prime's eyes shifted to Diana, "You said we needed to talk. What do we need to talk about?"

"Christmas," Diana responded.

"So, if that's the subject, why are we discussing it without everyone being present?"

Diana smiled at him. "We have discussed certain aspects of it with all the women, but there are other things that we, the group of us here, need to decide. My sister-wives know what we're going to discuss."

Jeff raised an eyebrow, but sipped on his coffee without otherwise answering.

"All right," Diana began, "but before we get into the ... deep stuff, we need to touch on more mundane things. Let's start with Christmas trees. Do we use the one Margaret and Frank used last year, or buy a new one? They bought it last year and she assures me it is still in perfect condition. It's stored in the basement and is a beautiful scotch pine that just clears the ceiling in the living room. She showed me a picture and I have to agree that it's beautiful." Sliding a picture across the table to Jeff, "So, what do you think?"

Jeff stared at the snapshot before passing it to Arlene for her perusal. "It's beautiful as far as I'm concerned, and if it comes close to the tall ceiling in the living room, it should be perfect. Uh, where in the living room were you thinking of putting it?" he asked, noting that Arlene just returned the picture to Diana, which meant that all four of the women had already seen it.

"In front of the big window," Susan responded, matter-of-factly.

"Oh. Okay, sounds good. And other than being much bigger, it seems identical to the artificial tree we used in Georgia." Then with a grin, "Bet this monster is going to be a bitch to put together, not to even mention decorating it."

"No problem there," Arlene teased. "The men will assemble it and the women will decorate it – with assistance from our husbands in the difficult areas, of course," she finished, grinning back at her father.

"I also suggest," the Clan Queen went on, "that we use our tree from Georgia in the sitting room of our suite, and give the other families living here the option of putting up their own tree in their suite or apartment."

Still wondering why they were having a private meeting about this, Jeff shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Now what..."

Diana went on. "What do we do about presents?"

"Among ourselves, or are you talking about everybody?" Jeff wondered.

"Both," Diana responded with a grin.

Jeff sighed. "Perhaps you will let me in on the answer then?"

Diana smirked at his comment. "Our problem is the reverse from the one we've had for so many years – particularly our lean years. I wanted to give you, Mom and Arlene many things, and Dad when he was alive, but we didn't have the money to do much. Now we do, but ... since we moved out here, we've had the money to pretty much buy whatever we've needed, or wanted. So what do we give each other now that we've spent months buying whatever tickled our fancy?"

"And ... there are a lot more in our family now than when we were in Georgia," Jeff finished for her, somewhat unnecessarily. "I used to give the three of you pretty sleepwear or nice coats, and for you Diana, sometimes some special cooking appliance you specifically wanted for Christmas, but would never stretch our budget to buy during the year. Occasionally, less expensive jewelry, if we were having a good year."

Diana smiled at him. "And now all your wives have beautiful, expensive sleepwear, and our marvelous kitchen is full of every appliance known to woman. We also have nice coats, and our closets are stuffed with expensive clothing. We live in a fabulous home. We all have beautiful, if not extremely expensive jewelry, much of it given to us by you, my Husband. Now, we have no idea what to give each other for Christmas. It's all your fault," she teased. "You sold your invention, that's now bringing in tons of money, and bought up several companies that were just starting up, but had something that the public desperately needed. Those companies are practically coining money, and don't forget our investments. So none of us need a darn thing. Worse, I would be hard put to find anything that my sister-wives don't already have. Again, you've seen to that by constantly encouraging us to buy anything that catches our fancy, not to even mention all the things you have deluged us with over the past months. Oh, we could give each other expensive jewelry, but where do we go that we could wear it? And none of us really care for jewelry that we would have to constantly worry about because it was so expensive. None of your women have excessive tastes, but you're stuck with us," she finished with a smile.

"And..." Jeff broke in, his voice almost a snarl, "speaking of places to go, because of Ship and her ... affinity for me, General Whitworth thinks it's too dangerous for me to drive to ... hell, even friggin' Winter Park without a dozen guys practically holding my hand. I can't even buy a car for my daughter to drive. Where in the hell would she drive it? Crap, she wouldn't even get to drive down the mountain or to school to show her friends the car I could have gotten her for her birthday, or some such, because she might be taken hostage and used against me. Shit. Shit. Shit."

"Exactly," Diana responded.

Jeff sat up and propped his arms on the table. After a moment, "I never thought that having money would screw up Christmas. Hell, I used to take on every engineering job I could find so we could have a little extra around Christmas time, and you worked extra too, Di, particularly when I was in the military."

"And we had some wonderful Christmases, Daddy," Arlene said as she got up to hug both her parents. "Sometimes, we didn't have much, but you always got Mom and me something we really wanted, and you loved us."

Diana turned to her mother. "You and Dad always helped out when we were short. We'll never forget that."

Susan smiled at them. "Enough remembering. Now, what are we going to do for the man who has everything? Suppose he would like some strange pussy for Christmas," she teased.

Jeff's face paled, and the women laughed. He forged on, hoping they were, indeed, kidding. "And it's the same for me. What in the world can I buy for any of you?"

"You sure my 'Vet is out for a Christmas present?" Arlene asked with a halfway grin.

"Don't even think about it," Jeff muttered.

"But..." Diana said, "our problem is not necessarily the same problem that confronts all our extended family. I think Van and Adriana are doing fairly well, but I suspect they aren't too far from having some of the same problems we had in Georgia. I'll bet there are several appliances that Adriana and Lillian would like to have, and Jeremy, Paulette, Connie and Denise are just starting out, so there are bound to be things they need for their house and kitchen."

Jeff frowned. "We need to check on that. Did either family ever get their furniture delivered? Surely, they're through finishing their floors by now. You've been exercising with them. Have they said anything?"

"I mentioned it to Adriana, but I'm almost sure she's stalling. I think our giving them the furniture, or setting it up for them to pick out their furniture, is embarrassing them."

"What?" Jeff said. "Shit. I'll talk to Van and Jeremy. Dammit, I've got money running out my..." He sat silent for a moment, then went on, his voice much quieter, almost as if he were talking to himself. "They're family. It isn't giving. It's sharing. Somehow, I've got to make them understand that. Damn if I'm going to sit up here on this mountain with our millions making more millions while part of my family makes do with old, worn out, unmatched furniture. Of course, I've never been in their homes, but I'll bet my speculations aren't far off."

Diana got up to sit in her husband's lap. "Go easy, Husband. They work hard for a living – all of them. They have their pride, and I'm sure they have all they need to have an enjoyable life. We did – remember?"

"But Baby, Van and Jeremy are Alphas. We've enhanced all of them. We're all family, and you know that you can feel every last one of them. Family isn't just a word. Our bond is far stronger with them than other families have between siblings and parents. I ... feel ... Di, you know what I mean. They're family," he insisted. "All of them. And the word, 'family' does not begin to describe the strength of that bond."

After thinking for a few seconds, he continued. "I think Fred and his family are pretty much set, and since we've established the corporation, our accountant monitors the farm accounts to make sure they don't run low. As for the Tates, Quinton has told me he has made some investments over the years, but I think they could still use some help. But ... right off the top of my head, I have no idea how we can help them in a way that they'll accept. Crap, we're sitting here rich as hell, and getting richer by the minute, but we can't even share it with our extended family for fear of insulting them. We've got to come up with something."

Diana squeezed his hand for a second. "Everybody has an interest in the new ski lodge. You've seen to that. That will help..."

" ... eventually," Jeff finished for her with a sigh. "We can put money into the lodge, and my accountant can make sure all the Alphas have a 'high return' on their investments," he said with a grin. "Frank and I have already talked about that, but that's for the future. But what are we going to do about Christmas for them? And while we're on the subject, I think Matt and his women are okay for funds. He said he had 'lucked up' with some investments. Matt must surely have received a considerable raise with his promotion, but Courtney isn't working now, and their family has expanded with the inclusion of Bridget, so I have no idea what the overall results of those changes are, or will be.

"Art has a considerable amount of back pay in the bank because of working undercover, so his family should be okay, too. But I'm not sure about Eric, although, come to think of it, he did mention that he and Angie had some money saved that he could put into a drugstore, and both of them are going to sell their houses. He has no salary at the moment, but then again, he has no expenses while they're living here."

"But they still have utility bills at their houses," Diana injected.

"Good point," Jeff agreed. "We'll build his superstore for him, but we need to subtly check out their finances to make sure they have plenty of cash to tide them over until the store begins to produce an income for them. Also, Eric said that he and Angie need to go back and get their personal possessions and put their houses on the market. As far as that is concerned, we really need to have a better understanding of everyone's finances, since most of what we know is supposition. But I can't just walk up and say, 'Oh, yeah, by the way, how are your finances?' But be dammed if I'm going to let any of our extended family have a piss-poor Christmas. And, by the way, do we draw names, or do we try to buy everyone a gift?"

"That, my dear Husband, is one of the major reasons why we're having this meeting," Diana answered reasonably. "And let's not forget Jesse and Alesha. They're so proud that we were forced to buy a ski lodge in order to give them jobs. It would have been a lot simpler to just drop some money in their accounts, but they, like all the rest, won't let us do that."

"At least they're finally living with us now, so they won't have to be paying rent on that apartment," Arlene said, but hesitated for a couple of seconds. "I think I can talk to Alesha. She'll probably tell me what she's going to give Jesse for Christmas, and maybe even tell me what she wants. From that, we can get an idea about their finances. If they're short, maybe I can talk her into a 'loan' over the holidays."

"Let's not forget Kei and Edi. We need to give them a nice gift and also find out if they intend spending Christmas with family or with us. I don't know if they have family around here or not."

Diana let out a sigh. "I'll talk to the women from each group. I'll work something out, and you can talk to Kei and Edi. You know them as well as any of us. And ... come to think of it, Margaret might have some ideas. She and Frank are billionaires and they've associated with the wealthy all their lives. They might have some suggestions."

Jeff looked at his Clan Queen. He knew that she would somehow manage to talk to the women and do it without embarrassing anyone. The end result would be that everyone would get what they really wanted for Christmas.

"I'll talk to Kei and Edi," Arlene volunteered much to Jeff's relief.

"The training for the men finishes up today," he responded. "So when do we put up the trees?"

"When Ann is home," the women said as one. Then Diana continued with, "If she isn't here by Christmas, we'll have a late Christmas. We will not have Christmas without her."

"I agree," Jeff responded. "I don't know how long she'll be gone. Like I said before, she's looking for that proverbial needle in that great big haystack called space. Since I had nothing to do with the planning of this mission, I have no idea how long she'll be gone." After a moment of silence, he continued. "But I do know when I started worrying. That happened as soon as I realized what she had done. And I'll worry until she's back home safe and sound, then ... I'm gonna spank her ass."

"You will not, Husband, and we all know it," Diana said with a smirk.

"We're all worried," Arlene injected, "but whether you believe it or not, she knows what she's doing. I don't know how Ship does it, but a couple of hours in Ship's simulator translates to months in Ship's academy. Maybe it's another dimension and time doesn't flow at the same rate there, or maybe it's just Ship's way of packing our brains with information, but there is absolutely no detectable difference between real life and what goes on in the simulator – as you well know, Daddy. Ann has flown that scout through everything the Ship could throw at her – and survived. She'll come back from this, and she'll complete her mission. You can count on it."

There was quiet for a full minute, everyone in their own private world. Finally, Diana spoke. "It's time we got the Carter family together and went furniture shopping. If they're not going by themselves, as we suggested, then we can all go together. It's time they accepted our wedding presents."

Laura had made only a few comments during their entire discussion, but now she spoke up. "I'll bet they try to pick the cheapest furniture in the store. I'd love to go with you to see their faces when you upgrade what they choose, but I'm staying right here until my daughter returns."

"At least one of us will always be with you," Arlene said as she hugged her sister-wife. "I'll bet Ann is gonna come back full of things to tell us about her trip."

Jeff came to his feet, focusing on Diana. "Set it up. I want to be there when they go furniture shopping, too. The General will just have to piss and moan about security. I'm tired of being cooped up on this mountaintop like a prisoner. If Van or Jeremy bitches about us spending money on a couple of houses full of furniture for them, I'll be there to help you argue."