Chapter 47

Jeff walked quietly into the darkened bedroom. "Are you going to do without another night's sleep?" Madison asked from the darkness.

"Oh, I'll sleep enough," Jeff said, moving to the bed.

"Seems a shame for the owner of this place sleeping sitting in a corner while I'm sprawled out on this great bed."

Jeff laughed as he brought the healer from behind him. "Yeah, well, I'm sure not going to crawl into that bed with you."

"Odd that we don't think about two women sleeping in the same bed, but I totally agree. It isn't going to happen," Bill said, chuckling himself. "By the way, did you take the night lights out of here, or something? The other suite had them."

"Yeah, I put them in one of the dresser drawers. I'll put them back after tomorrow night."

"How in the heck do you see in here? Do you have night vision equipment on or something?"

"Something like that," Jeff answered. "Are your eyes closed?"

"You know they are. I gave you my word, but I think I saw a blue glow last time."

"All right. That's normal. Nighty night," Jeff laughed, holding the healer toward Madison's chest. The blue light came on and Madison slept.

Do your thing Little One. I'll be waiting. Then we'll go for our run. I have a lot of things to ask you, complements of my first wife.

{{{ Amusement. Eagerness. }}}

Breakfast was at seven, but Jeff was still not back from his run. Dave and Evie were the first to express concern, but when Diana assured them that he was okay, they relaxed, knowing that if she said Jeff was fine, it was so.

Then just as everyone was finishing breakfast the security system alerted them that Jeff was starting up the driveway. Bill nudged Kathy and nodded toward the monitor over the cabinets. "Remember what that driveway did to us just walking up it last week."

Kathy laughed. "How could I forget? Makes you want to wring his neck, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Bill laughed, "if I thought I was man enough."

"That thing is steep just past that curve. Remember that? He went up the steepest part just like the rest of it."

As Jeff neared the retreat, he slowed to a walk, cooling down for the last two hundred yards.

Helen started a fresh pot of coffee, but none of the wives showed any indication that they were expecting Jeff in the kitchen soon, but just picked up the remains of the food from the breakfast bar, and began cleanup operations.

As Bill, Dave and Frank left the kitchen, Bill turned to Dave. "They're picking up the food from the bar and cleaning up, uh, I would have thought that they would have waited until Jeff got here."

"Oh, they know what he wants to eat," Dave said putting his hand on Madison's shoulder as they went through the door. "All his wives will pitch in at the last moment when he's about ready, and they'll have his food in front of him as soon as the last one greets him."

"What does he do, call them when he's done with his shower? Man that's kind of..."

"Come on, let's go sit down. There's some things that you need to know about Jeff and his wives that will keep you from ... uh..."

"Making a fool out of myself," Bill supplied, a grin on his face as they turned into the living room.

"Well, those are your words, not mine."

"Oh, chill out, Dave. I'm just a working man like you, and even I can see that this family is different. Heck I might learn something. I obviously didn't know enough about marriage to keep mine together."

"Bullshit!" Wainwright said. "Bullshit! Don't even start to blame yourself for what happened. Your daughter certainly isn't blaming you. And anyone that knows you also knows that you have been a loving husband and a loving father. Still are. But you're right. This family is different. And if Dave doesn't mind, I'll help bring you up to date about some of the things that have happened around here. At least the things that we can tell. Otherwise when those women put food on the table, or pour Jeff's coffee ten seconds before he comes through that kitchen door, over and over again, not to mention all the other stuff, well, we can tell you what we know. Save a lot of head scratching," Frank finished as he turned a recliner toward the window and sat down.

"I already noticed them do that once. I just thought it was coincidence, or good timing."

Dave and Bill also moved their chairs closer to the window, so they could all look out at the beauty of the early fall morning as they talked.

By the time they were seated, Evie pushed in a cart with coffee and sweet rolls. She kissed her husband with relish, almost making Bill blush, and causing Frank to chuckle.

"I think the lass is trying to tell you something there Dave," Wainwright teased after Evie left.

Casually crossing his legs in hopes of hiding the tent in his pants, Dave said, "She's a jewel, no doubt. We lucked up when we found each other. We like so many of the same things. It makes life easier, I guess. But it does seem like the last month or so has been even better than our first years together. I suppose that the ... uh, circumstances we find ourselves in..." he finished, lamely.