Chapter 533

The Retreat

Ship had returned to her hovering position behind the Retreat. While they waited for the healing chamber to complete its job, she grew comfortable seating for them nearby. Kei was sitting snuggled in Jeff’s arms, her eyes still red, but she was no longer crying, having finally accepted that her mother was going to be okay when Ship finished with her. “Why did he do that to her?” she asked, yet again.

“Because he’s an asshole, but ... he needs to pay for this,” an upset Clan Queen snarled out as she stared at her husband while he silently communicated with Ship. After receiving the list of Kei’s mother’s injuries, he was hesitant to repeat it. I know that Ship will heal her, but if I repeat the list of her injuries, it will scare Kei into worrying that her mother might not survive – broken ribs, broken arm, ruptured spleen, damaged liver, punctured lung ... and that bastard left without even seeing that she got to the hospital. How in the world did that woman even manage to stagger outside? That SOB needs to be charged with attempted murder.

Then it dawned on him. If we had waited until tomorrow to contact Mrs. Tanaka, she might well have died, but surely the servants would have called an ambulance for her before that. A frown touched his face as his thoughts continued. That ass should be prosecuted for this, but will she sign a complaint? Shit! That won’t work. There won’t be any evidence after Ship heals her. That husband of hers is fucking insane. Kei has continued to tell us about his crazy behavior, but I thought she was exaggerating.

As he continued to sit thinking, Jeff realized that Kei’s father was going to get away with what he had done. The servants will tell him about the phone call, then about her staggering outside, only to be gone when they checked a few minutes later. He will assume that someone helped her get away, and it won’t be long before he thinks of Kei. The ass is bound to know that she’s living with us, and practically everyone in Winter Park knows about the “rich man on the mountain with all the women”, and he probably knows who Kei has been working for during the last months. Chances are he will claim that his wife has been abducted, and ... mention that his daughter works for me, but he will fail to say anything about his having beaten his spouse almost to death. The bastard has money, and with money comes influence. Ten to one, I’m going to have police from Denver coming up here to investigate her disappearance. When they do, she will be in perfect health, so we can’t even mention his having beaten her. Plus, if I wring the little fucker’s neck, everyone is going to know who did it.

Somehow, we need to quieten this down until the whole thing blows over, then ... I’ll have a chat with this guy – a chat that will forever change his mind about beating on his wife.

“How much longer?” an agitated Kei asked.

Jeff mentally queried Ship before he answered Kei’s question. “Roughly another thirty minutes, but I have something to talk to you about first,” the Prime told her.

Jeff eased Kei from his lap to sit between Diana and himself, the others also sitting near. “We need to discuss some things. As far as the servants know, Mrs. Tanaka stumbled out into the back and disappeared. When your father gets past his temper tantrum, he’s going to realize that she had help, and ... he’s going to start worrying about being charged with beating your mother. I’m beginning to think that he will decide that it would be in his best interest to report her as missing, maybe kidnapped. That way, when she’s found, he can claim that the kidnappers were responsible for her injuries.

“Kei, the servants will say that she received a phone call from a man, then you came on the line. Your father obviously knows that you are living here with us, so you can bet he will tell the police that he suspects us – me – of kidnapping his wife. It won’t take long for the police to confirm that the call came from here. Chances are we’ll have a visit from Denver’s finest within the next few hours.”

Kei thought for a moment. “The servants will say anything he tells them to,” she offered, and if Ship does heal my mother as well as Diana tells me she will, there won’t be any obvious injuries when the police arrive, correct?”

“Yep. Best to tell them that you picked your mother up because she feared for her life, and not mention any injuries. Once they know that she is here of her own free will and no law has been broken, they will drop the case, but the next few hours will be crucial if we don’t want to get involved in a kidnapping investigation. Do you think you can convince your mother to go along with it?”

Kei looked shocked. “I did not think of that. You did say that she is going to wake up completely healed?”

“Absolutely,” Jeff assured her.

“That in itself is going to be a shock to her,” Diana offered.

“Can we even tell Mrs. Tanaka what actually happened? I mean that she was picked up and healed by Ship?” Arlene asked. “Ship was invisible, and I doubt that Mrs. Tanaka even noticed much before she was put in the healing chamber.”

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” Jeff quietly whispered, then aloud, “It probably won’t take Mr. Tanaka long to figure out where she is. In the meantime, we have to tell Mrs. Tanaka at least part of what happened, and... convince her into going along with our story. In addition, if we deny the police entry to our home, they will only get a warrant and come back. But, if Mrs. Tanaka can quickly assimilate what’s happened and go along with our story, we won’t have to explain how she was healed so quickly or how she got here other than her daughter picking her up.”

Kei offered, “The servants will not dare mention my mother’s injuries, but Mother is intelligent. However, she comes from a family that maintains the old ways. A husband is in supreme control of the home, his wife and family. Maybe I can convince her to refrain from mentioning her latest beating and the, to her, miraculous healing until after she speaks with the police and tells them that she is here of her own free will to get away from her husband and the way he treats her.”

“We should be able to get a court order to ban him from the property. Certainly not necessary to keep him out, but it will tend to paint her as an abused wife who has sought sanctuary with her daughter’s friends,” Kayla commented.

“Not just her daughter’s friends, but with her daughter,” Diana said. “Don’t forget. This is Kei’s home now.”

“Excellent point,” Jeff agreed, “but we’re basically talking in circles. It all depends on how long it will take Ship to heal her and whether Mrs. Tanaka will go along with our subterfuge, not to mention what her husband will do, or if he even chooses to involve the police.”

Kei spoke up. “He will not take this – how do you say it – lying down. He may not want my mother, but he will not allow her to leave his household uncontested.”

“The simplest thing would be for me to have the General drop his ass on the prison planet, but ... someone would report him missing, and we would be back in the middle of it,” Jeff groused.

While they waited, Arlene and Kayla brought all of them coffee. Kayla turned to Kei. “Sorry. I didn’t think. I know that you usually drink coffee with the rest of us, but would you rather have had hot tea of some kind?”

Kei smiled at her while shaking her head. “Coffee is excellent. When I was growing up, my father insisted that we drink green tea as our most common non-alcoholic, hot beverage. He, of course, often drank sake and beer, but would not allow the women of the household to do so, saying it was not becoming. My husband, probably wanting to make an impression on my father, insisted that we follow his tradition, even though I was no longer living under his roof. Since coffee and iced tea are the most prevalent drinks in your home, I have eagerly accepted them as mine. I am, however, still experimenting with what to add to them. I have tried coffee black, as you prefer it, Jeff, but it is too bitter for my enjoyment. It tastes better with cream and sugar, I think.”

Diana smiled at her. “Kayla drinks it black sometimes, as does Arlene on occasion, but the rest of us use cream and sugar, although, the men usually prefer it black.” Then with a grin at her husband, “I sometimes think they drink it that way because they don’t want to take time to fix it properly, and with all they drink, it might well make sense to drink it black,” she admitted.

Kei knew that the sustained conversation was to keep her mind off her mother’s condition, but just as she got up to look into the healing chamber, the mist cleared away. Leaning in, she offered her confused mother a hand. “What...” Mrs. Tanaka began as Kei helped her stand. “What is this?” Mrs. Tanaka asked as she looked around at the obvious alien surroundings.

Jeff reached for the woman who was dressed in a beautiful, if somewhat wrinkled, kimono. “Here, allow me to help you,” he said as he lifted the older version of Kei effortlessly out of the chamber.

Despite her bewilderment, Mrs. Tanaka stretched out her arm, flexing it, then took a deep breath, obviously expecting to hurt, but when she did not, she turned to stare at the tall man smiling down at her.

Staring at Jeff, Mrs. Tanaka said in, to him, delightfully accented English, “I am certain I had a broken arm when you picked me up. I could barely breathe for the pain in my arm and side, yet there is none now,” she added, her voice showing awe. “And this,” she said, subtly motioning around her, is certainly not my flower garden.”

“A lot has happened, Mother,” Kei broke in to say, “but you are safe now.”

“I will never be safe from that ... animal,” she absently remarked as her eyes took in the people and the odd surroundings around her.

Jeff gently took her hands. “You are the mother of the woman I intend to marry. That ‘animal’, as you refer to him, will never have the chance to hurt you again if you will accept my protection.”

“Marry?” she said with a frown. “You cannot marry my daughter. She is married already.”

“Not anymore,” Kei assured her.

Diana stepped forward, her hands outstretched. “I’m Diana, the Matthews’ Clan Queen. Come. Let’s go to the lounge, have something to drink and get acquainted. Your daughter has a lot to tell you. But rest assured; you are safe.”

“I ... have no soreness ... and no pain,” Mrs. Tanaka quietly said. “What has happened to me?” she asked, her voice full of wonder, even as Kei took her hand and followed Diana.

The next hour was one of the most amazing that Aiko Tanaka had ever experienced. Several times, she would move her arm as if expecting it to hurt her, a look of mystification passing over her countenance when there was no pain. In addition, she realized that she was ravenously hungry, her usual petite appetite having been embarrassingly replaced by that of a construction worker, it seemed.

Early on, Diana had put a plate of food in front of her, the plate bearing the tenderest, best tasting steak she had ever sneaked a bite of. Aiko and the servants had cooked the way tradition and her husband demanded, using meat more as a seasoning rather than the main course, but her appetite seemed suddenly bottomless, and the steak, mashed potatoes, gravy and English peas were beyond delicious. As she pushed the empty plate back to take a final sip of iced tea, the plate disappeared before her eyes.

Before she could respond to that, Kei spoke up, “Mother, we have much more to tell you, and I am still learning, also.”

Aiko, fed up with her husband’s ever-increasing beatings, and finally realizing that he was truly going to kill her if this kept on, agreed to the block after her daughter assured her that she would not even be aware of it. She took in what she was told, seemingly trying to believe, but Jeff doubted if she actually believed half the minimum details they told her. When they stepped off Ship to walk down the slight incline toward the Retreat, Aiko began to get an idea of just how big the building she was approaching actually was. Once inside, she was impressed, despite having grown up in wealth and then having married into it.

After becoming somewhat accustomed to the continuing aches from past beatings, and now having no pain at all, plus the wellbeing that came with the enhancement, she was beginning to realize that something truly wonderful might have happened to her.

Diana had the AI display a map showing the Denver area from above, and the compound where she had been rescued and its relationship to Winter Park and the Retreat.

“I realize that I was in severe pain, but I was aware of no movement from your ... vehicle as we traveled up here,” Aiko hesitantly said. She still could not fully believe that she had been in an inter-dimensional spaceship, and only vaguely understood what the words actually meant.

Seeing Aiko’s face, “I am still learning, too,” Diana assured her.

“We all are,” Jeff agreed.

A little later, they were all sitting in the giant living room, Aiko having been introduced to all of Jeff’s wives, the shock showing in her face.

“Would you please direct me to the restroom?” Mrs. Tanaka asked her daughter a moment later.