Chapter 21

“Alright, here we are ... the Pennsylvania State Line, not that this makes much of a difference, does it?” Charles Tremaine remarked as they entered the Keystone State at last, after a good day’s travel from Watkins Glen, New York.

“The great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or rather what’s left of it. We’ve finally left New York State behind us. Where in PA is this, anyway?” Justine replied to her husband ... well, her first hubby.

“Somewhere just over the border. Erie County, perhaps?” Mike Hawkins pointed to the county line that they bypassed seconds before.

“Touche ... very general of you,” Justine answered the flippance of her second husband.

Both men cracked up at their wife and her response. Justine was nothing if not feisty, their French-Canadian ginger delight. Sharing her was quite the experience, to put it mildly. There were plenty of other lovers ... for all three of them, but Charles and Mike both had a particular affection for Justine. There was a special bond that the trio shared, one that could scarcely be described by those who didn’t feel it.

“Papa ... I’m ... late,” Chantal informed her father now ... somewhat nervously.

It wasn’t news that any daughter lightly told her own father, after all.

“Ralph works quickly, doesn’t he?” Charles beamed, kissing his daughter on the forehead before she pulled him to her lips.

“Maybe it was Ralph, maybe you, maybe I’m just a bit late. Maybe it was Uncle Mike,” Chantal winked at her parents.

“It would be an honor, of course,” Mike grinned, finding that notion rather attractive.

“Yes, I’m sure that it would,” Anne teased them.

“Naturally,” Therese added her voice with a playful wink.

“There’s nothing so far, near as I can tell, you know,” Rupert commented now.

“Damn it, when you’re right, you’re right, bro,” Naomi agreed with her brother-husband.

“Si, es verdad,” Cecilia replied in Spanish to her partners and the rest of the tribe.

“What did we miss?” Larry inquired after Bill and he finished double-teaming Slave Nicki.

“Just crossing the state line, for what it’s worth, guys. How were ... you know, things?” Mike needled the lovers a bit there.

“Well, you know... , “ Bill grinned while Nicki blushed as much as she could.

“And you guys? What news?” Nicki added for her part.

“Okay, aside from the absolute lack of ... well, anything. It’s a wide-open countryside, entirely uninhabited. Like a ghost county, not just a ghost town, or else maybe they’re just in hiding. That could well be. With just cause,” Charles observed now.