Chapter 22

Chuck

I woke up in a sweat. Remembering the night before didn't help with the PTS, with maybe a D on the end. That was close. I wonder why the bomb detonated, did it have a timer? Was there another person with a remote detonator? I doubt I'll ever know. I do know I was grateful to have carried Lisa out of the way.

A heavy-breasted person was at my back and it wasn't Frieda as the belly wasn't bulging. That's when I remembered Gina. My, oh my, what do I do after hearing Giovanni's unique call last night? Was he trying to match make me with his daughter? Didn't he realize I had a pile, a literal pile of women that I was committed to? Surely he knows, as his intelligence is so complete about everything else.

That's it, I have to get up. Too much to drink last night and I have to hit the head.

Ever so slowly and gently, I slipped from bed and hopped to the bathroom. On the way back to bed, I saw that the clock said five thirty. I knew I should probably go back to bed, but thought I might have some coffee and breakfast, along with a Bloody Mary to make my morning better. Besides, there was no way I wanted to go back to sleep and relive that dream of reality again.

While I put on some shorts, a t-shirt, and my peg, I was watching the bed full of women. Gina suddenly sat up and looked at me. She smiled and slipped over Lisa and came to me. After a gentle kiss, she went to the head and was soon back with me as I sat, ready to leave. I whispered softly, "I'm going up to the salon. If you want to come, please do, I'm sure there are robes in the cabinet."

I think she understood, but as I left the cabin, Gina followed me to the galley. She suddenly grabbed me on the arm, turned me around, and pointed at my peg. With a horrified look on her face, she asked, "You don't have a leg?"

The first thought I had was 'You noticed' or 'Son-of-a-gun' or perhaps I could just say, 'I misplaced it.' What I did say was, "I was injured in the military."

She looked at me very hard and asked, "Are you like my father, are you in his army?"

Now I was kind of surprised, "No, Gina, I was hurt in Iraq as a Marine."

Still looking at the peg, she asked, "Does it hurt? How do you get around so well? You had regular shoes on before, how?"

"Gina," I said, trying to calm her, "I have an artificial leg that I usually wear. I've worn it long enough that I know how to get around and walk just like anyone else."

She looked at me a little skeptically, "So you are all right, as good as whole?

I just nodded, "Yes, I work at being as good as whole."

Gina encircled me with her arms, putting her head to my chest, "I am so sorry you were hurt."

"It's okay, Gina, it wasn't your fault. Come on, let's get some coffee and go up to the salon."

The coffee maker was just finishing, so I pulled a mug from the cabinet and showed it to Gina. She smiled, so I pulled a second one out and filled both. With coffee mugs in hand, we went upstairs into the salon.

Almost as soon as we sat, Lisa came up to the salon, still naked, and carrying a mug of coffee. She kissed me, kissed Gina, and sat next to her. Lisa took a gulp of her coffee and asked me, "How about being the bartender and fixing us a Bloody Mary?"

I made three Bloody Marys and set them on the bar. By the time I was back to my tall chair, Lisa's drink was almost dry. Gina, sipped hers the first time, then sipped some more. The third time around, she took a healthy gulp, making me glad I didn't make the drink strong. Lisa asked, "Did you have trouble sleeping?"

She drank the last of her drink and got down from her chair to make herself another. As she made her drink, Lisa stated more than asked, "That was close, wasn't it? I mean, I followed you out and you just grabbed me up and ran. I don't know how you did it, but thank you, Chuck. That was close."

Lisa refreshed Gina's and my drinks before she came around to sit next to Gina. Gina looked at Lisa and asked, "Are you not afraid someone will see you?"

Lisa asked, "Do you mean am I afraid that people will see me naked?"

Gina smiled and said, "Yes, that is what I asked."

Lisa smiled, leaned over to kiss Gina on the cheek and said, "I think everyone on board has seen me naked at one time or the other so it wouldn't be the first time or a big deal. We sunbathe naked, on top of the salon, all the time."

Gina asked, "Are you not embarrassed?"

Lisa was grinning and asked, "What's to be embarrassed about? When we go to the Riviera, I'm sure we will go to a beach where everyone is naked. Would you go naked where everyone else is naked?"

Gina scoffed, "Of course, we have naked places in Italy. There are many places on the water where most have no clothes."

Lisa asked, "What's the difference? I don't think anyone on board will care that I'm naked. None of them will attack me or try to take advantage of me. Some of the women might be more aggressive than the men. Gina, on this boat, you are safe, dressed in anything or nothing."

Gina was smiling, although you could tell she was contemplative. She finally asked, "So I shouldn't have worn so many clothes to bed?"

Lisa leaned over and hugged Gina, "You can wear anything you want to bed, especially if you are more comfortable."

Gina thought for a minute, and then said, "I wanted more to happen last night, but I didn't want to appear to, ah, ah, I don't know the word. Too much a, ah, in my word, loose donna, ah yes, a loose woman. I didn't want to be a loose woman."

Lisa told Gina, "If you want something, if you want our man to love you, all you have to do is give him kisses and encourage him. He'll gladly love you and make you a happy woman."

Gina said, "But it may be the right time for me to get the child. You know, I could get pregnant."

Lisa smiled and nodded her head, "You don't take any birth control, do you?"

"Oh no, that would be against the church. The priest would have me doing penance, rosaries for a week."

Lisa told her, "If you want loving and don't want to get pregnant, I'm sure we can find some prophylactics in the cabin, you know, rubbers."

Gina said solemnly, "That would be as bad. That would be deceiving and not trusting that it wouldn't be the time for me to conceive."

Lisa asked, "Then how do you have sex, fool around, without getting pregnant?"

Gina said confidently, "Pull out."

I thought Lisa was going to fall off her chair trying to stifle her laugh. But she said, "Isn't that kind of dangerous? Most guys like to enjoy putting their stuff way up inside you."

Gina smiled and said, "Yes, I know, I have two babies that way." She said very seriously, "But I have learned how to take care of my man with my mouth. When my time isn't right, I take care of him that way."

Lisa was shaking her head. "Gina, I'm sure Chuck would love to make love to you, but he's going to want to put his stuff way up inside of you. He might not remember to pull out so you can use your mouth."

"Then I will have another baby. It would be meant to be. Chuck Johnson would have to take care of me and the baby after that."

Lisa looked at Gina, rolling her eyes, "I'm glad we got that out in the open. I think you have given Chuck an idea of how you feel and believe."

Gina was acting confused, "But that is good, isn't it? To be honest and to want to love make with a man I am attracted to? Is that so bad?"

Lisa said, "I think there is some confusion as to what is right and what is wrong. If you are not married to a man, is it right to make love to him?"

"I am not a virgin," Gina stated. "After having a husband and losing him, I am without the protection of a man, but not without feelings. If I have feeling for a man, it is good to love make to him. I have no one to tell me no. I have feeling for this man beside me and I would enjoy lovemaking to him just as I have enjoyed lovemaking to you."

Lisa hugged Gina to her again and said, "So you shall make love or love make with my man. We will enjoy ourselves with you and you will enjoy our man and us. You know, of course, that he made babies in some of his ladies."

Gina smiled and said, "Of course, who else would have given those ladies the chance to be a mother. It is good."

Gina looked at Lisa questioningly, and asked, "The leg, you don't worry about the leg? Chuck tells me he is whole, is he whole, you are not afraid he hurts?"

Lisa sat back and told Gina, "Yesterday, Chuck leaped from the stage to knock down that man. He carried him out of the stadium and dumped him. I had followed Chuck, and when he saw me, he picked me up and carried me to safety before the explosion. What do you think, isn't that whole?"

Gina was thinking over what Lisa had said, probably still translating everything. Gina smiled, "Chuck is a good man; yes, I think he is good as whole. I didn't even realize he did not have part of him until this morning. I guess I just didn't look."

Gina looked at me a second, then turned back to Lisa, "Will you tell me the truth if I ask you a question?"

Lisa just smiled, "Of course."

Gina looked at me again but asked Lisa, "Is Chuck doing business with the father? Is he in the same business as my father?"

Lisa said, "I don't know what business your father is in, but I can tell you that Chuck is a law officer, like a government policeman, a U.S. Deputy Marshal. He is a very good man."

Gina turned to me, and asked, "Will you tell me the truth?"

After I nodded, she asked, "How do you know my father? What do you owe him that you would take me and the children to the concert?"

"I don't owe your father anything. He came to me and we had a meal together while he asked me questions about some of your relatives and some of his acquaintances who disappeared in the U.S. and in Central America. He had heard many stories, and he wanted to know if I had been directly responsible. When we finished, he asked me to take his grandchildren to the concert. I felt it was a great honor to be asked to be responsible for them. You know the rest. That you came with the children has been good."

While squeezing my hand, Gina said, "I believe you."

Lisa said to Gina, "Come with me, I need to put on some clothes and you might want to put yours on too. If you need something else to wear, I'm sure we can find something among all the women on board."

The two left the salon, with me almost choking over her baby comments, keeping my feelings and thoughts back. This lady was a walking time bomb, or would that be baby factory. She would or could be a close second to Kathy.

Speaking of Kathy, the tall sweet lady came up to the salon and asked, "Can you make me something this morning? I think I want what you are having."

She then asked, "Are you okay after last night? That was close, wasn't it?" She accepted the Bloody Mary and said, "When I first met Steve, he was doing stuff like that a lot and that made me scared. I was afraid I would fall in love and lose him the same as my husband. No, let me correct that, I was falling in love and didn't want to lose him. Is that a problem with your women?"

I told Kathy honestly, "Brandy and that group get a little freaked out when I've been hurt or they know I've done something dangerous. I can't help it, Kathy, it's a part of my job and yesterday, last night, I was just in the right place at the right time to keep the situation from becoming a disaster."

Kathy smiled and patted my hand, "I know, and I'm thankful you were there. I think I'm over the worrying about Steve and if I'll lose him. I know that there are times he may be in danger, but I also know he is capable of taking care of himself, just like you. I'm not worried or afraid any longer. What will be, will be."

I was nodding as Lisa and Gina came back up the stairs, dressed this time.

Kathy said, "How about we ladies go fix breakfast? The kids will be up soon and they always want to eat right away. Come on, we'll make breakfast before Glenda gets up."

The three ladies went below as Steve came up. Steve walked behind the bar and made the favorite morning drink. Instead of making just one, he made his one, plus six more. Steve looked up at me and said, "They will all be claimed within minutes around here. I probably should make more."

Dewey came up and took one of the drinks. In another thirty seconds, Ben arrived to claim one. Sue and Beth both came up and claimed a drink. John and Wanda came up and took the last two. Steve looked at me and raised his eyebrows, holding his drink up in a victory salute.

I needed a refill, so I went behind the bar and made myself another, filled Steve's up, and made another six. Within minutes, the six were claimed by more folks coming up the stairs. As we were finishing our drinks, Taiying came to the top of the stairs, "Breakfast is ready. You better hurry or the children will eat it all."

As we passed the sweet little Asian, she put her arm around my waist and walked down the stairs with me. On the way down, she said to me, "You make me a very happy woman, Chuck Johnson. Sing feels the same and we are thankful that you have brought us into your family. Taiying held up her left hand, displaying her ring, "I am proud to wear your ring and be yours. Sing and I want to talk to you about giving you more children."

I stopped on the stairs, turned, and gathered Taiying into my arms, "Taiying, that would make me a very happy man. If you want to become a mother, I want to be the father." With that, I kissed her tenderly. The kiss lingered and grew until we were panting from the intensity. Taiying looked a little embarrassed and said, "We should not procreate in front of the children."

The way she said that made me smile. "You're right, it should be more private."

Taiying surprised me by saying, "No, private is not necessary for what I want, what I need. I would want everyone see me become a mother. But the children do not need to see it. They must learn many things before it is time for them to know of making life." The sweet little Asian gave me a very sweet kiss and said, "Sing and I may want to have more special time with you soon." Before I could ask her about the implants she and her sister had told me about before, she went down the stairs.

When we reached the galley, the kids were having a good time, eating and talking. I noticed the four Italian kids were not sitting together, but had made friends with others and were sitting with them.

The open place for me to sit was between Gina and Julie. This was getting nuts. Why was Julie doing her best to match Gina and me up? The odd thing was how Lisa was responding so positively, while the fruity five were also encouraging me to have a new lady. I have a strange group of ladies.

As the morning progressed, I noticed the ladies going up to the sundeck. One of them had been Gina, who had darker complexion than some of the others. She appeared to be colored similar to Sue who looked as if she was tanned all year long. She was darker when she lay out in the sun, but always was a little more tanned than most. Missy had pushed Merlin into getting some sun, and I would have bet he would be pure white and be an immediate burn candidate, considering his working hours and habits.

Steve and Mercy came to me, and Mercy said, "Come up and get some sun for a little while. You need some natural vitamin D. Mercy elbowed me and said, "In addition to that, you can scope out the lovely Gina. She is a fox."

Oh my, even my mentalist sister, Steve's Mercy, is acting the matchmaker. When Lisa asked me to come with her, I finally consented to go up on the roof of the salon to enjoy the warm Mediterranean morning sun. I was surprised to see a lot of the kids, including the two little Italian girls, lying nude in the sun. Sue motioned for Lisa and me to lie next to her and Glenda. I thought it was sweet that Glenda was lying out with all the rest.

I looked around and found it could have been a pedophile's dream with all of the nubile young waifs sunning themselves in the altogether. For myself, I was always interested in how sexy Lisa looked, but then, it was fun to check out Sue and her monster bazooms. And oh my, Gina is really built. A surprise was that she was very well trimmed at her junction.

I was treated like royalty, as Lisa and Sue massaged lotion onto my back. When they asked me to turn over, I pulled a towel over my middle to cover the excitement of having the women stroking me. Sue whispered to Lisa, "Perhaps we should take him below to take care of his problem. I'll bet I can get a few more interested in some morning fun. Maybe Steve would like to help Chuck work his way through some women."

I had to say, "Hush, Sue, you're making it hard to relax."

Sue and Lisa both laughed and both took hold of me beneath the towel, as Lisa whispered, "That's the idea, Honey, we want you to be hard for us."

I rolled back to my stomach to hide my pride and to discourage the two groping girls.

The sun was very warm and I didn't want to burn, so after about a half hour, I got up and told Lisa, "I'm going to work out for a while. I think Taiying and Sing were right about working out giving me more energy."

When I stood, I saw the two Asian sisters gently caressing lotion into our Italian guest's beautiful body. From the way the two were rubbing the lotion, I'm sure Gina was enjoying their ministrations.

Sue spoke up, "You know we are to attend Dennis' and Marie's wedding at eleven. Marie vanished after the concert last night to stay with her parents. Dennis was with us, of course, and sort of had his bachelor party with all of us.

Mercy said, "We should have brought in some dancing girls.

Sue pushed, "So let's all get going, we need to leave in about thirty minutes. Mercy, tell the kids to get ready."

There was a mass exodus from the sundeck over the salon. People were heading below to get ready. I asked Lisa, "Do you know how long this will be? Will we have enough time to get back here to shower before we have to go to the stadium to practice?"

Lisa thought about it and said, "We probably should just get ready to go straight from the wedding. Wear some nice clothes but take your jeans with you. I don't have to worry as they give me those leather pants and vest. That's all I will have on anyway."

There was a crush of people using the shower. Gina was a little surprised how we crowded in together, but joined in the fun of washing someone else's back as hers was being washed.

We all dressed nicely. I even wore a sport coat. Everyone gathered up in the salon before we went to witness our friend's wedding.

Our bus and Ed took us to a small chapel next to the Vatican. As we entered, Dennis met us and said, "This event has become a little bigger than I had expected." Dennis looked at Steve and said, "I didn't ask you, but will you be my best man? I didn't think we were going to be this formal. Ah, Marie even has bridesmaids. Ed set this all up for us, even rented the gown and the bridesmaid dresses for us. I'm surprised the priest is willing to do the service. The priest did have us in the confessional talking to us, so I suppose he must feel we are ready."

Steve went with Dennis, and as we walked into the Church, Tina came running out the door straight to me for hugs and kisses. I asked, "What are you doing here?"

Tina smiled as she answered, "I can't miss my brother's wedding, can I? Mom and Dad brought me over. Marie's folks were able to come earlier, but Mom and Dad waited for my shift to be over. It's so nice to be able to see you." She looked around at the other girls and said, "And I am really happy to see my other fellow women of Chuck's harem."

Tina hardly took a breath, "We just landed this morning and came straight to the Church. Do you think there is enough room for us on the boat?"

I said, "We'll make room."

The priest came to the doorway, and in perfect English, asked, "Will you please be seated, I must complete this service by eleven thirty as there will be a high mass today."

Tina took off in another direction as we all took a seat.

As soon as we were seated, some organ music began playing. In another few seconds, the first bridesmaid began coming down the aisle. There was one more bridesmaid before Tina, accompanied by Steve, came walking down the aisle dressed as the other bridesmaids in a very nice pink gown.

The bridal march began. Marie in a flowing white gown, holding onto her father's arm, began coming toward the altar where Dennis was waiting. This was really special. When the pair reached the altar, her father handed Marie's hand to Dennis.

The service was fairly short, but beautiful. I kept thinking I needed to do something like this, but with whom, just Lisa? Would that be right?'

The pair did the kneeling stuff, exchanged rings that had been blessed, followed by the priest presenting the pair as man and wife.

The newly married couple walked back up the aisle and out the door of the chapel.

As the rest of the group followed them out, I saw Ed hand the smiling priest a fat envelope. Ah yes, a good donation helps to make things happen the way you want, even at a church.

Outside, the group was standing, kissing, and hugging Marie and Dennis. Marie, Tina, and the other girls went back into the church and came out in their street clothes, carrying their gowns. Dennis announced, "We will meet you at the hotel in Nice. We are going early for a little honeymoon. Marie's parents are coming too, so don't worry about room on the boat. Mom and Dad, use Marie's and my room on the trip over to the Riviera. I know you can only stay here for a few days before you sail to Nice, but enjoy, have a good time."

More hugs and kisses were given, followed by Tina quickly handing out little bags of seeds to be thrown at the couple. They were well showered by the time they were able to get everyone into the taxi. And just like that, they were gone.

It was still ten to twelve, so I asked everyone, "How about we have Ed take us to a nice restaurant nearby for a good lunch? Lisa and I will have to go to the stadium soon, and I'm sure most of you would enjoy relaxing a little before those who want to get ready to come to the concert get ready."

Tina grabbed my arm, "What concert, what's going on?"

Lisa tucked her head down between her shoulders and said, "I forgot to e-mail you about that. Come on, get on the bus, I'll tell you all about it."

Tina insisted that she sit in the aisle seat, with me by the window, so she could hold hands with me while she talked to Lisa who was sitting across the aisle. The problem with that was that Gina was sitting next to Lisa. Tina kept being distracted by Gina's beauty as we made the short trip to a restaurant Ed had called to make sure they could accommodate us. Tina was really excited that Lisa and I were playing with a famous band. She was more excited that she was going to be able to watch us and listen to the performance.

I was more excited that Tina was going to be able to stay with us all the way to the Riviera.

The meal was great, but I had to watch out for the sneaky homemade wine that was served. Another glass and I might have been getting fuzzy.

Lisa and I took a taxi, while Ed loaded the rest of the people into the bus. I did notice he had put all the dresses in their bags and had them hanging at the back of the bus.

At the stadium, there was some intense increased security. One of the police officers recognized me from last night and was very friendly. In broken English, he said, "All of Italy know you today. They know you are a hero. You saved many last night. Italy and me, we salute you."

Lisa was elbowing me in a teasing manner as we were led into the stadium by a roadie. I noticed several police, and some uniformed army types, standing with rifles at the ready. I guess these people are serious about security after the attack. Somebody told me the army types were "carabinieri", the paramilitary national police force that used to wear the funny Napoleonic style hats. I met some of those guys in Afghanistan as part of the NATO civil affairs effort – smart guys, and tough, too.

The first thing we did was go to the stage where Kenny had us run through several pieces he thought needed some work. They sounded good to me last night, but Kenny knows what he wants to hear. We went over the playlist trying to eliminate a set or two, but ended up agreeing to do the show the same way.

Lisa and I changed into freshly laundered clothes, just a T-shirt in my case, and visited the makeup girls. Dan and Carolyn were in the makeup room when we went in. Carolyn asked, "Did you guys watch the news today?"

I could only shake my head no.

Carolyn said, "Last night's attack was part of a three location attack that was foiled by catching the guy who was pushing the detonator when Chuck almost got blown up. The man was apparently pushing a button on something, and kept running higher and higher in the stadium until the bomb blew up. He was tackled by several guys who had seen him and knew he was up to something. The police, or someone, was able to get information out of him about the other two attacks, so they were prevented. They have almost two dozen people in jail. They are as bad as we are back home at being politically correct by not saying the attackers are terrorists or Muslim extremists. They are calling them 'people creating a public disturbance.' If you don't kill enough people, you're not a terrorist."

Lisa and I had been through all of this many times, so we weren't surprised, except that was at home and this was Italy, where people are sometimes more vengeful. Moreover, Italy had experienced terrorist attacks as long ago as the '80s, but those were from homegrown Marxists, the "Red Brigades", so maybe they weren't sensitized yet to Middle Eastern terrorists.

When we finished with makeup, we went to the reception room where there was a bigger, younger crowd than last night. Lisa and I ate a little and had some iced tea before Kenny waved at us to come to the autograph table. It was chaos for a while, as people were pushing to get to the table. It finally settled down and when I looked up, I saw my group. Lisa elbowed me and said, "Look, another Gina."

Oh my, there was another lady that appeared slightly older than Gina, but oh my, she was as much a treat to the eyes as Gina is and could have easily been her twin. Something different was happening though, as Sue and Mercy had the new woman pressed up against Steve who kept trying to get away. I almost laughed as I knew how he felt. I mentally pushed at him, telling him to relax and go with the flow.

Steve got a startled look on his face and stared at me. When I winked at him, he smiled and ducked his head, almost in embarrassment. At that moment, Mercy came blasting into my head saying, "Mind your own business, this one's ours." Lisa looked at me and mouthed, "Did you hear that?"

I smiled; it was pretty neat for us to be able to communicate so freely with each other this way.

One thing was nice tonight. I had no feelings of premonition, fear, or apprehension. We were cool.

The show went off with the same enthusiasm by us and the crowd as Friday night. The crowd was as loud, but didn't seem to be as wild and raucous as the night before. When we were doing the encore, Lisa was grinning as she looked at me. We were tuned into each other, playing far beyond our abilities, surprising both of us and Fred.

As we packed up, Jack came over and asked, "Where did you two get those riffs. It was neat when you two played that crazy one, note for note together, with perfect precision. How long did you have to practice to get that right?"

Lisa said, "I know you won't believe us, but that's a new one for us. I hope you saved it so we can get a copy, I want to practice that one."

Jack and Fred were shaking their heads in disbelief at what Lisa said.

We went to the reception room, ate, and had one drink and a couple of beers while we signed more autographs. Our people were there, waiting to take us home, but there was another face that appeared, Giovanni Martinelli was there, and actually had the whole band sign a promotional poster.

When the autograph table broke up, I went to Giovanni and shook his hand. He motioned me to the side and said, "You have both of my daughters and my four grandchildren now. Treat them gently. My oldest is infatuated with your Steve friend. That is not bad, and I think even their mother might accept her two girls becoming part of a multiple wife family. All of the women of your group appear happy, especially the three pregnant ones with you, and the pregnant Irish ladies. Thank you again, Chuck Johnson, I want to do something for you, but my daughters may be doing that."

Giovanni continued, "Neither of my girls knows what my business really is. That is why they were raised and live up here in Rome, while I live in Calabria – South Italy. It would be difficult for them not to know that I do business with some unsavory people. They hear and read the news, so they know of our family and what is. I tell you this so you know my Gina is pure of mind. I need to have her ex be declared dead or something so she will be free. I tell you this so you will be gentle. If you don't want this to work, be gentle with her when you separate. Call me tomorrow."