Chapter 531

The Retreat

By 1:00 P.M. the women, as well as the Prime, were cold, tired and frustrated, but the pallets of frozen foods were unloaded from the trucks and stored in the main freezer. None of the drivers had given Diana any trouble as she told them where each pallet should go – it was just a lot of work unloading and arranging everything, and ... most of it couldn’t be done standing outside the freezer. Each truck had arrived with its own forklift hanging on the back, and as each driver finished and reloaded his forklift on the truck, Diana shook hands while palming his tip – a tip that brought a big grin and a heartfelt, “Thank you.”

As Jeff and his women walked up the ramp and into the brilliant spring day again, Arlene leaned against her father. “I’ve been in and out of that freezer so many times that I can’t decide whether I’m hot or cold,” she complained

Kayla, almost always somewhere near Jeff, chuckled. “I thought it was just me.”

No,” Diana said with a sigh. “We’re all tired and uncomfortable from going from sixty degrees to forty below and then back again, over and over. “I, for one, am bushed.”

“We all need to eat,” Jeff offered.

Although lunch was over, the AI notified a waiting Ada and Charlotte when it/he saw Jeff and the women returning from the fortress. The two had kept out enough food for the people working in the freezer. Mother and daughter had it warmed and on the table again by the time the others had washed up and were ready to eat.

“Thank you, wives,” the Prime said to the ones that went to help, then hugged Ada and her daughter for having lunch ready for them.

“You should have taken Kei with you,” Ada quietly said to her husband. “She has alternated between staring at the monitor and looking out the window practically ever since you left.”

“Crap. I thought she wanted to work on her project. It never occurred to me to take her with us. She should have said something if she wanted to go.”

No sooner had the words been spoken, that Kei walked into the kitchen, only to be grabbed by a laughing Jeff. Sitting at the bigger of the kitchen tables with her on his lap a moment later, he kissed her neck and blew into her ear. “Ready to be married, My Love?”

That produced the brightest blush he had ever seen on her.

“Jeff,” Diana scolded as she helped Ada and Charlotte put lunch on the table, “That’s something that you should discuss with Kei in private.”

“No. No,” Kei broke in to say. “My uh...”

“Sister-wives,” Arlene suggested helpfully as she poured iced tea for all of them.

Kei lowered her eyes, but quietly said, “I feel that my future ... sister-wives should share in my joy. And, yes, I am, indeed, ready to be your wife.”

Jeff sobered. “Kei, I would marry you this afternoon if I could, but I realize that your dress must be chosen, and well, all the other things that men have no part in. I have a tux, and there’s nothing that I do that can’t be rearranged timewise. So, you tell me when, and I’ll be there.”

Diana sat at the table and reached over to squeeze Kei’s hand. “I’ve notified the dress shop. We can go there to pick out your dress and have it fitted, or you can pick it out from their website and the owner will come up here to fit it.”

Kei took a sip of her iced tea, taking a moment to think before looking back at Diana. “I had a huge wedding the first time – not that it mattered. This time, I had rather it just be fam...” But she stopped when she realized what she was about to say. “I, uh, have no family now...”

“Oh, hell yes you do,” Jeff broke in to say as Diana did at the same time, minus the adjective. His countenance serious, Jeff continued, “You saw the whole group at Jasmine and Morales’ wedding. Trust me. They are your family. I told them that I was going to marry you as soon as your divorce was final – if you would have me. You saw the way they treated Jasmine and Morales, and many had never even seen them on a video, let alone met them in person. When we’re married, they will be your brothers and sisters, and they will take it seriously. As soon as you say yes, you will have a family that loves and will protect you – with a vengeance, if need be.”

“As well as real sister-wives,” the Clan Queen inserted.

Kei seemed to shrink in the Prime’s arms as she said, “If he hears about it, my father will do everything in his power to disrupt the wedding.”

Jeff shrugged, his face grim, before hugging her to him. “He’ll play hell getting past Security to do it. He should make it up here right after hell freezes over. Come to think of it, I could even arrange for Tosha to be working the gate if we hear that he’s coming – and we will know.” Then with a broadening grin, “She promised him a spanking, didn’t she? That lass is a woman of her word.”

Kei giggled, imagining her father turned over Tosha’s knee, his naked ass glowing while he screamed during the spanking. “I wish my mother could get away from him, but she has always refused to leave him, no matter what he did.”

“I’ve already told Jeff that she’s welcome here any time,” Diana inserted.

Kei sighed, “Thank you, Jeff, Diana – all of you,” she said as she looked around to catch their eyes. “You have already done so much for me, but I cannot even get in touch with my mother. My number has been blocked, and the only one that would do that is my father.”

“We might be able to get around that,” Jeff said after a moment’s thought. “But ... we don’t want him to block this number, as well. Is there any time when you know he’ll be away so that you can try to talk to your mother?”

“Well, not always, but he is frequently at his “men’s club” in the evenings from about seven until approximately ten – many times, even later.” After thinking for a second, she went on, “He has a strict rule that my mother is never to answer the phone – only the servants.”

“So, I’ll call at seven thirty or so and ask for him. If he’s there, I’ll pretend to be a telemarketer and tell him that the warrantee on his vehicle is about to expire and I have a much better policy to sell him. If he isn’t there, I’ll ask for your mother and put you on. You can explain what has been going on and offer her refuge. If she agrees, we’ll go get her. Just make sure she understands that she’ll be absolutely safe up here with a Security crew that takes their jobs seriously.”

Diana and Jeff shared a glance before the Clan Queen said, “And ... make sure she understands that she will not need any of his or even her own money, and she will have a beautiful place to live for as long as she wants to stay with us. Also, please make it clear that she will have the freedom to do as she wishes.”

“But you do not even know her. Why would you...”

Diana answered before Jeff could. “She’s your mother, and you have told us that she has been abused for years. She is welcome simply because she is your mother. Even if she’s a bitch who can’t get along with anyone, there is plenty of room here in the Retreat for her to stay away from us, should she choose to do so. But knowing her daughter, we also know that chances are that she too is a wonderful person. I strongly advise that you listen to my husband and do what he suggests.”

Kei thanked them, but sat snuggled in Jeff’s lap for a couple of moments before saying, “From the way my father acted at my office, I am afraid that he is becoming more and more ... deranged, I suppose the term is. Chances are he will be at his men’s club tonight. Could we try to contact my mother tonight ... please?”

Jeff chuckled as he hugged her while locking eyes with his Clan Queen. “You bet we can, Sweetie. I’ll be looking forward to it. But you mentioned that you had brothers and sisters. Will they be affected by anything we do?”

They are all married, but live in the same ... compound, I suppose the English word is. He has influence over them even though they do not live in the main part of the compound. They all have jobs, although he still has some influence over them.”

“So, what will happen to them should your mother decide to get away from him?”

Kei thought for a moment. “All have threatened to leave, and in the last year or so have tended to live in more of what my family refers to as the American way. My father has lost some influence with them, only to increase his dominance over my mother, and through her, myself. I suppose he had hoped to continue that influence when he married me off to Edi, because of Edi’s old-world attitude.”

“So, what do you think will happen if your mother should leave him?”

Kei sighed. “He will become enraged. If he ever loved my mother – which I doubt – he will hate her after she leaves, and do everything in his power to get her back. If that does not work, I think he will try to have her killed. Remember, he is wealthy and has influence. Her leaving would be a tremendous insult to him, and he will respond. Mother tells me that he ... has become more and more unstable in the last year or two. It seems logical to assume that he is using or smoking some type of drugs, because he comes home smelling ... oddly, in addition to his unpredictable behavior. She says that sometimes, his responses are slow. Other times, he will come home very angry and beat her for no reason, but he never strikes her where it will show – just as Edi did to me. I have tried to persuade her to leave, but she, too, has had old-world beliefs instilled in her, and will not leave her husband. However ... the last time I talked with her, she was terrified of him. By now, she might well have decided to flee ... if she can.”

“Jeff,” Diana said with just that bit of inflection. “Your soon-to-be wife’s mother is in danger, and you have the capability to alleviate the situation.”

“Di, I’ll set up a phone call so Kei can talk to her. If she wants to leave, I’ll make it happen, but this is not a military operation. The police will probably consider it a domestic dispute and me an outsider. I can’t just force my way into his home...”

“Oh, bullshit,” Diana responded, startling Jeff with language unusual to her. “That didn’t stop you from adjusting Edi’s attitude, and that was a domestic situation, too. There are no secrets between your wives. We all know exactly what you did to him ... and we totally approve. Are you afraid that you’ll wind up with another wife?” she teased, then more seriously, “When we expanded our bedroom, I knew there would be many more wives, and planned for them. The bed is practically infinitely expandable and the room can be enlarged if need be. As you well know, should you want to, we can all touch – no matter how many are involved – while you make love to one of us, and we’ll all be totally sated, so the number is of no consequence if we all love each other.

“You’re a Prime. It’s time you began to truly act like one. As we search for the race that built Ship’s brain, we are bound to encounter many different races. I should think that the more wives you have, the more respect you will receive, and, yes, the more respect I will also receive as your Clan Queen. That respect might well go far in our associations with alien races.”

But, Di. It...”

“I speak for all your wives. We are the wives of a Prime, and we will project our pride with our status. We’ll subtly let it be known that our marriage is not just in name only, but that you dispatch your husbandly duties with aplomb. By then, there should be a number of us pregnant – another testimony to your not being a husband in name only.”

By then, Jeff was wondering, Kei was openmouthed, and the other wives were giggling.

Diana caught Kei’s eye, and with a grin, said, “I buy a certain cream by the case. I’ll give you one guess as to what kind of cream I’m talking about.”