A Friend in Need

Heathen57

 

 

Chapter 28

 

Greg woke briefly, and in searing pain, as the doctors and nurses worked frantically on his broken body.  Once they noticed that he was awake, they started asking a bunch of questions that he did his best to answer, but the pain was making him confused.  He saw the lights on the ceiling pass over him as they took him to surgery, and once through the doors, he felt the falling sensation as the anesthetic poured into his body.  Then once again it was into oblivion.

 

The nurse on duty came into Mandy’s room where Traci and Maria were both visiting her and Nick.  Mandy had just finished breast-feeding her son, and she thought that the nurse had come to take him to the nursery.

 

Instead, the nurse quickly explained that Greg was in surgery after an accident.  Mandy and Traci both started to panic, but the nurse told them that he was going to be all right, just very banged up for a while.  They put Mandy in a wheelchair, and the three women moved down to the surgery waiting area.  As soon as they got there, Traci put in a call to Heather at her office and told her what little she knew.  Heather said that she would be there in a half hour, hoping by then they might know something.

 

While they were waiting, a police officer approached them.  He needed to get some information about Greg, and asked which one of them was his wife.  Traci and Mandy both spoke up, confusing the officer, so they had to explain their arrangement to him.  “I’m on the official certificate, but Traci here has all the rights I do, and I insist that she be in on anything to do with our husband,” Mandy said in a tone that brooked no argument.

 

The officer just shook his head and then started with the questioning.  Mandy told the officer that there wouldn’t be any drugs found in Greg’s system, that he was on track to compete in the upcoming Olympics.  He had left the hospital after visiting with her and was on his way to their home to change and then was going to pick up their daughter from Mandy’s mother’s house.  With all the officer’s questions taken care of, Traci then demanded to know what had happened.

 

“He was on his bike when run off the road and into a bridge abutment by another vehicle.  I was behind him having just come on duty.  I saw the accident and radioed for backup who stopped the SUV a short distance away.  The guy had been on his cell and was looking for something in the other seat when he veered into Greg.  Then he took off.  We got him on reckless, leaving the scene of an accident, and about half a dozen other charges.  I have to tell you that there was nothing that Greg could have done to prevent it happening.  He is lucky to be alive.  He was wearing his helmet and leathers, which saved him from bad road rash and possibly death.

 

“The paramedics said they thought he had a couple of breaks in his right leg, maybe a fractured pelvis and possibly some internal bleeding from a few broken ribs.  But the folks at this hospital are who I would want taking care of me.  They did when I was shot a year or so back, so I know they will do their best to get him patched up.”

 

The women were less worried than before, but not by much.  Heather showed up then, and they told her what they had found out from the officer.  Maria excused herself, telling them that she was going to the hospital Chapel and light a candle for Greg’s recovery.  The rest of them settled in to wait for the surgeon to let them know how bad he might still be.

 

Mandy was just getting ready to go back to her room to feed Nick again when the doctor came out looking for them.  He introduced himself, and the first thing he said was that he expected Greg to make a full recovery.

 

“The worst were the breaks in his right tibia, fibula, and femur.  And of those, the break in the femur is the most worrisome.  The bone was fractured, shattered really, just above the knee joint, and we had to use plates and screws to hold it all in place.  He won’t be able to walk for at least eight weeks, and then he will require therapy. 

 

“Fortunately there were few internal injuries, and we were able to repair those. He also broke his pelvis, but that was just a crack, not a complete break.   Like I said, he will heal completely, but it is going to take a long time and a lot of hard work.”

 

Mandy was the first to speak.  “Thanks, Doctor.  We’ll make sure he recovers.  Now, how soon before we can see him?”

 

“Just as soon as he comes out of recovery.  He will be in ICU for a day or so just to make sure that there are no complications, so only family will be allowed and then just one at a time.”

 

“We are all family, Doctor,” said Traci.  “Heather is his mother, and Mandy and me are his wives.”

 

The doctor looked confused.  “Both of you are his wives?  Y’all are Mormon or something like that?”

 

“No, nothing like that,” stated Traci.  “We were all married to each other at the UU Church.  Mandy is the wife on record, but we share in everything.”

 

The doctor rubbed his chin for a moment.  “Well, it is highly unusual, but I will leave orders for you all to be allowed in.”  Just then his pager went off.  “Excuse me ladies, but I need to get to the ER.  Don’t worry, Greg will be fine.”  He moved off down the hall in a brisk walk toward the elevators.

 

All three women hugged each other and cried a little bit in relief.  Mandy’s breasts were starting to leak milk, so she went back to her room to feed Nick.  Heather and Traci sat back down to wait for the word that Greg was set up in ICU.  Maria came back and was overjoyed to hear the news.  She had come to think of Greg as a big brother, with just a little lust thrown in the mix.  Since she couldn’t see him until after he got out of ICU, she volunteered to call Charlie and Kathi and see if they would take her to go and get Jenni.  She would take Jenni home and try to keep her on schedule.  That was something she could do to help.

 

It seemed like forever before a CNA came to get them.  Heather decided to go in first and then let Traci have a turn.  She stepped to the door to see her son hooked up to monitors, and IV tubes. From the doorway she could see that the bruises all over his body were starting to turn purple, and on his right leg was a heavy cast that went from his toes to where it disappeared under the hospital gown.  The incisions where they had gone into his abdomen to check for and repair more damage were hidden for the moment, but Heather knew they were there.  All in all, he looked like a real mess.

 

Heather was beginning to think the doctor had lied to them about his condition until a nurse came up beside her and quietly told her that it looked a lot worse than it really was.  She steeled herself and walked into the room.

 

“Greg, honey?  It’s Mom,” she said in a low voice.  In response, Greg opened his eyes and gave her a slight smile.  She came over and took hold of his left hand, the only one not covered with tubes and monitoring devices.  She felt his reassuring squeeze and began to feel like he really would make it.  He tried to say something, but his mouth and throat were so dry that he couldn’t talk.  He was still very groggy from the meds that they were giving him and he was slipping in and out of consciousness.

 

“You just relax, honey.  Traci is here outside and waiting to come in.  Mandy is upstairs taking care of little Nicky.  We've been really worried about you, but the doctor says you'll be fine.”  Again she felt the pressure of his hand squeezing hers.  She could see him trying to stay awake, but the drugs he was getting were making that a losing battle.  She told him to rest, and she just sat for a little while until his nurse came in to add something to his IV.  Heather told him she was going to let Traci in for a while, but that someone would be here with him all the time.  He gave a sleepy nod of his head, and she slipped out to allow Traci her turn.

 

Heather told Traci about how he looked and what the nurse said, but that didn’t prepare Traci for the sight when she came into his room.  She walked over to his bed with tears in her eyes and leaned down to place a light kiss on his lips.  When he tried to return the kiss, she broke down and cried, holding tightly to his hand.  He gave her a squeeze and then pulled his hand from hers so he could pat her arm, telling her that it would be all right.

 

All she could say for a while was, “I love you.”  She tenderly pressed her hands over all of the bruises and cuts she could see, as if she could somehow make them go away, then sat in silence with him while he rested.  She only left when Heather peeked in to tell her that Mandy was back and waiting to come in.

 

Mandy’s reactions were the same as Traci’s.  Throughout the next two days, they took turns sitting next to Greg, talking sometimes, but mostly sitting in silence and touching him to let him know that they were there for him.

 

Seventy-two hours passed before the hospital moved him to a private room.  They had reduced the drugs enough that he was now more awake.  The room was equipped with an overstuffed, extra-wide chair that folded out into a bed.  The hospital had discharged Mandy and Nicky by then, so the women decided that they would all take turns staying with Greg throughout the night.  They went in shifts.  Mandy would be in during the day as she was not taking courses since she had the baby.  Heather would be there in the evenings, and then Traci who had late classes this semester would be there overnight.  Many evenings, Maria would show up with Jenni who was anxious to see where her daddy was.  The little girl didn’t understand what or why all those things were that were hooked to her daddy, but she instinctively knew not to touch the tubes and not to roughhouse too much.

 

Greg made a game of the cast with Jenni.  She would knock on the cast, and he would wiggle his toes and call out, “Who’s there?”  When she became bored with that, there was always her new little brother who she'd claimed as her own property.  She would sit deathly still in the big chair next to her mommy with Nicky in her tiny arms and just stare at him for the longest time.  Any facial movement of Nicky’s and Jenni would swear up and down that he was smiling at her, to her great delight.

 

Greg was very glad when three weeks later they removed his hip-to-toe cast and replaced it with one that they assured him that he could learn to walk with eventually.  For now though, he was confined to a wheelchair.  With help from the CNAs, he could finally make it to the bathroom so he was rid of the catheter and the bedpan.  The new freedom meant that he could get out of the room and down into halls and the main floor of the hospital.  One warm day, Mandy managed to sneak him down into the open-air plaza that was located in the center of the hospital.  He sat in the sun for over an hour, and that was the highlight of his week.

 

But with the new freedom to move even a little bit came the realization of just how far he had to go.  And then depression followed.  They would wheel him down to therapy and stimulate the muscles under the cast just enough to keep them moving and then allow a mild upper-body workout.  He couldn’t believe how much tone he had lost in just a few weeks of inactivity.  Everything he tried to do, things that before were done without thinking, were now a major chore, if not totally impossible.  He began to feel useless.

 

The biggest blow to his mental health was when his Sensei and trainer came to tell him that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the Olympics.  The trials were just a month away, and there was no way he would be able to make them.  When he talked to the orthopedist the next morning, Greg was told that the severity of the fractures and plates required to hold his knee together would make it very doubtful that he would ever compete at upper-level martial arts again. 

 

Greg seemed then to lose interest in ever even just getting back up and walking.  He complained about the therapy and quit pushing to get better.  While he wasn’t openly hostile to anyone, he became more surly, refusing to eat and using the excuse of being too tired to talk to his family when they tried to discuss recovery and rehab and training options after he got out of the hospital.

 

One evening, when Traci was there with him, she told him that she was looking forward to when they could have sex again.  Greg lashed out that he was so crippled now that she and Mandy probably would never want to have sex with him again.  This really hurt her, and she quickly left the room.  In the waiting room, she called Mandy and explained what he had said.  They talked for quite a while about what was going on and trying to decide just what to do.  Finally, Mandy said that she was going to get Maria to watch Jenni and Nick and she was coming up to the hospital to see just what they could do.

 

Mandy arrived after just a few minutes.  She didn’t even go into Greg’s room, but met Traci at the elevators, and the two went to the sitting area across from the nurse’s station.  After talking between themselves for a while, they asked their favorite nurse, Natalie, for her opinion.

 

Natalie had become close to the women as well as Greg.  She had noticed his lack of cooperation and his moods lately as well.  She made time to sit down with Mandy and Traci for a talk.  She felt the situation was becoming serious.

 

“I can tell you both that this change in Greg is disturbing.  I’m not a doctor, and you should talk to a therapist, but in my opinion, he is suffering from severe depression.  That would explain his lack of appetite, the refusal to get well, even the lack of desire.  And if he continues to become more depressed, he could end up suicidal.”

 

At those words, Mandy burst into tears.  Olivia’s death flashed into her mind, and she knew she would never be able to survive something like that.  Natalie looked over to Traci who was comforting her wife, her confusion clear in her eyes.

 

“We had a friend who was very close to Greg and Mandy who took her own life.  It tore Greg up something awful, and you can see Mandy’s reaction to the memory.”

 

Now Natalie looked stricken.  “I’m so sorry!  I didn’t mean to bring up something so painful.  But that is a possibility if you don’t find a way to snap him out of it.  The antidepressants that he is on aren’t doing the job.”  Natalie slipped away then to leave the two women to themselves.

 

Mandy looked into Greg’s room to check on him only to find him sound asleep.  She and Traci had decided that they were going to confront the doctor in the morning, so Mandy headed home to feed Nicky and to set the alarm to be sure to be there in the morning. 

 

She was back, with Nicky in tow, before breakfast.  Greg asked why she was there so early and she decided that they might as well confront the issue.  Greg tried to deny anything was wrong, but both of his wives came down on him about the way he had been acting and how his moods had been so dark.  They were still talking, now more calmly, when the doctor finally came in.

 

He pronounced that Greg was healing well as far as the breaks were concerned and deemed that the cast could be changed to a walking cast if the x-rays showed that much improvement.  He did recommend having a mental health therapist come in and talk to Greg and even having the women come in.  With that, he went on with his rounds to let them talk.

 

Greg did see the therapist, and while he improved a little over the next two weeks, he still felt that he would never be the way he was before.  He didn’t even believe he would be able to walk and run eventually, and he was sure he couldn’t perform sexually well enough to satisfy Mandy and Traci.  He was doing the physical therapy but not to the level that the physical therapist and the girls knew he could and should do.

 

Things came to a head when he said something along the line of not being able to satisfy her when he and Traci were talking.  Traci stood up and went to the door saying she would be right back.

 

She went to the nurse’s station and talked to Natalie.  “I've had enough of Greg thinking that he won’t be able to satisfy me or Mandy.  I'm going to give him some ‘special therapy’ so don’t mind any noises coming from down there, and ignore the monitors if his pulse goes up.”

 

Natalie gave her a sly look.  “I can’t condone such a thing going on - hospital rules ya know.  But if I’m not down that way, then I won’t know anything is going on.  And just between you and me, a wild fuck is probably just what he needs to improve his attitude.”

 

Traci gave her a little giggle and then turned back up the hall.  She walked into Greg’s room and pushed the door completely shut.  He watched intently as she started pulling her shirt and bra off while approaching the bed.  By the time she was standing next to him, she was down to just her panties.

 

“You keep saying you don’t think you can satisfy me or Mandy any more.  Well, by damn, we are going to find out.  I am going to suck you hard, then I’m gonna climb on that wonderful cock of yours and fuck your brains out.  You promised me a baby, and we are gonna start now.”

 

With that said, she put her plan into action.  She shoved the sheets and blankets down to the foot of the bed, and then her panties hit the floor.  She wasted no time on just licking; she took his half hard cock into her mouth and started showing him just how well she could suck cock.  It was only a minute until he was as hard as she ever remembered feeling him.

 

She then placed one knee on the bed and swung her other leg over his body.  She grabbed his dick and placed it in her entrance.    Since she had first started her ‘therapy’ session, she'd been so horny that she was almost dripping herself.  He slid in easily as she lowered herself until their pubic bones met.  She started moaning as she jerked her hips, rubbing her clit against the base of his cock.  Then she started to pump up and down.

 

Greg was feeling a lot of things at that moment.  First of all, when she took her clothes off, he remembered how hot she was. Then when she started to suck on him, he felt himself coming to full erection.  When she straddled his body, he saw how wet she was, and it finally sunk in that she did find him desirable and really wanted him.  The first stroke told him just how much he had missed both her and Mandy.

 

They were both on a short fuse, and Greg went over first.  He reached down and pulled her hips down onto him as he shot his load deep into her.  Feeling him come pushed her into her own orgasm.  She let out a loud growl as her body shook.  If she didn’t become pregnant, it wasn’t from lack of trying!

 

As her orgasm passed, she lowered herself carefully onto her lover and kissed him.  He put his arms around her and just held her until she had to move to take care of the cramps in her legs.  She walked naked into the bathroom and used a washcloth to clean what semen that dripped from her vagina and then between her labia.  She rinsed the cloth out and took it back to clean Greg up.  She took her time dressing, giving him plenty to look at.  After opening the door a bit, she then sat down on a chair next to the bed.

 

“I think you have your answer about being able to satisfy us.  We may have to be careful for a while longer yet, but together we just proved you still have it.  And the sooner you get that cast off and can get around, the sooner you can start being on top again.”

 

Greg looked over at her with tears in his eyes.  “Thanks, sweetheart.  That really means a lot to me to know that I am still desirable even all busted up.”

 

She leaned over and gave him a kiss.  “You aren’t all busted up, and you'll be back to your old self again soon.  Besides, that isn’t what Mandy and I see in you.  We love your heart, your giving, and your whole being.  It ain’t your body only; it is who you are that turns us on.  And we want the old you back.”

 

“I see that now, and I'm going to try my best to get back that way.  I can’t guarantee there won’t be dark days for me for a while, but I will be fighting them instead of letting them control me.”  Traci met those remarks with a big hug and a kiss that reminded him just how much she loved him.

 

A few minutes later, Natalie came into the room.  “How did the ‘therapy’ go?”  They both turned a little red and just nodded.  “I thought so.  The heart rate and the blood pressure both went through the roof for a sick person.  Good thing that I had to shut the monitor recorder down to change the paper just then isn’t it?”

 

They both let out a good laugh, one of the first from Greg.  Natalie continued when they had calmed down.  “This has to be our little secret.  I could get fired for allowing it to happen, so nothing did happen, okay?”

 

Greg and Traci both agreed, but only after they convinced Natalie that Mandy would want to give Greg her own treatment the next night.  Natalie opened the disinfectant from the bathroom and put some on a rag, which she then used to wipe around on the floor.  “Gotta hide the scent of sex in here.  Smells like a whorehouse, or at least like my bedroom when my boyfriend stays over.”  That earned her a big laugh.

 

The next night, Mandy showed up later than usual for her shift with Greg. The results of the ‘therapy’ were the same as Traci's, and Greg was feeling much better after having spent time with both his lovers.

 

By the time Greg moved from the hospital to a rehab center, he was in a much better frame of mind.  He still had some bad days, but they were fewer and fewer.  In rehab, he really put his all into the exercises that would get him walking and then home.  Every evening he was exhausted and his muscles hurt.  Mandy and Traci both learned what to do from the massage therapist, and they took turns in the evening working the soreness from his body.  Every few days, they would add a little something extra to the massage, and he would have the tension relieved in his cock by their expert hands or mouths.

 

He was worried that they were doing without, so he made them both promise to take care of each other until he could get home to help with the job himself.  Thus, the five weeks of rehab went by quickly.

 

On the day he was discharged, Greg walked out of the rehab center with just the help of a cane.  It was a big accomplishment for him, and he felt that he had earned every step.  He was still wearing a knee brace, but he could remove it at night or when he was just sitting around.  The nursing staff and the therapists hated to see him leave.  The women because he was so nice to them and didn’t ask for much, and the men because Mandy and Traci were not going to be showing up anymore.  According to one male therapist, they and their attitudes made the place worth coming to.

 

His orthopedic surgeon told him that his right leg would probably cause him to limp for the rest of his life, but he had no qualms about Greg living normally, though he'd have to realize he would never compete again.  He cleared him for any activities that he felt that he could do, but told him not to force anything.  So, for the next few months Greg worked hard at regaining the strength and muscle mass that he had lost during his hospital stay.

 

He lost his scholarship at the college, but elected to stay enrolled.  His Sensei applied for and received permission for him to become a trainer and coaching assistant at the college.  In reality, he was teaching at the same level if not higher in Shoto Kan than anyone on the paid staff.  The athletic director realized this and even fought to have him come in as a paid member of the coaching staff.

 

Greg had lost much time from most of the semester, so he dropped from  all classes and rescheduled them for the winter semester.  It gave him a chance to continue his studies, and when he did go back he would be ahead of the other students in his classes.

 

He did take care of little Nick as often as he could, dropping him off at the day care center on campus when he went to outpatient therapy or to help the coaches.  He tried to keep Jenni with him too, but after a couple of weeks it was obvious that she was missing her friends at the day care, so he took her there at least a few times a week.

 

Mandy and Traci both were doing well in college this semester.  Greg took the time to help them both study, and they were able to easily maintain their grades.  Maria was the one who needed the most help.  She was a very bright girl, but the changes in language and the differences in her living arrangements made it more difficult for her to get in sync with her courses.  Many subjects were taught differently than they had been in her little village, and she needed to discard her past ideals for the new ones.  Some of those changes she agreed with, and there were some that she felt that her traditional outlook was better.  Mandy sat down with her one time when these differences were causing her a lot of confusion.

 

“What I would do, if I were you,” offered Mandy, “is not to rely on the professors completely.  They have opinions that they will push in class.  That doesn’t mean that you have to take every word they say as gospel.  Just learn the subject matter, and if they start giving their opinion, you don’t have to agree.  Decide in your own mind if his thoughts go with what you think or not.  If not, forget what he is saying. Although some professors are hidebound and can’t take any criticism, some of them will actually accept a differing opinion as long as you can back up what you are saying.  You can get a better grade in their classes if you speak up.”

 

That completely threw her into a spin.  The nuns that had taught in the school she came from would not allow any dissent in their classes.    One had actually slapped her for her trying to correct what the nun had stated as fact.  The next day the nun had admitted that she was indeed in the wrong, but that had taught Maria never to offer an opinion in class unless called upon, and even then she had better agree with the nun.

 

The next week she disagreed with something that the instructor in one of her classes said.  She spoke up questioning him, and to her surprise, he urged her to explain why she thought that way.  He responded with his reasons for his view and that led to a discussion that lasted the rest of the class, with the other students chiming in on both sides.  At the end of the class, the instructor asked Maria to stay a bit, and then thanked her for the discussion.

 

“I still think I am correct, but you made me think about it, and that is what we should be doing here.”  She went away feeling like she was on top of the world.

 

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The trio and their extended “family” came through the college year doing well.  Charlie and Kathi had tried seeing others, but decided that they didn’t want to be apart, and Charlie proposed.  Kathi made a tearful acceptance, and they planned for a wedding when they finished college in three years.  Maria found a nice man of Irish descent, and their romance lasted until the end of the year.  They made an interesting couple, her with her short stature and Italian looks walking with a tall man with pale skin and very red hair.  After they broke up, Maria found that she enjoyed playing the field with plenty of time to be with Charlie and Kathi.

 

Jenni was a normal three year old, into everything and curious about her world.  She still helped with Nick as much as she was allowed.  She started learning her alphabet and numbers, and her day care teachers felt that she was very smart.  She definitely had a knack for learning and a curiosity about everything.

 

One thing came up that would change their lives.  Greg’s grandfather announced that he had come down with lung problems, probably from when he had been in the Army or when he was on one of his jobs.  He named Greg as his successor and planned his retirement for five years later.  That would give Greg time after he graduated to learn the nuts and bolts of the business.  The company was still mostly in the hands of family members who had no interest in taking over, so Greg would see very little opposition.  As long as the money flowed in, they wouldn’t care who was making it for them.

 

The trio talked about their futures.  They decided that the villa, which was to be deeded to Greg, would become a vacation getaway for any of the family who needed it.  The operation would be run from the US.  Traci said she wanted to continue to get her teaching degree, but she would now have a chance to teach in one of the smaller schools, the sort she preferred, since she didn’t need to worry about the money.  Mandy would continue with her art and perhaps teach in one of the high schools.  Mostly she wanted to raise her and Greg’s children - along with Traci’s - in a loving home where they would be treated much differently than their parents had been.

 

Mandy’s father was convicted of all the charges against him, and that raised the Federal authorities' interest in the Reverend Campol’s compound.  Though he talked a good fight, when it came down to it, he meekly turned himself in to the police.  With him gone, the compound fell apart and its people scattered looking for another preacher.

 

All in all they felt that their lives were going well. The final item to make their lives complete came when Traci bounded into the kitchen showing the other two a home-pregnancy test that showed positive.  She was treated with rounds of hugs and kisses.  “I have always wanted children, and now I get to have them with the greatest father in the world.”

 

Greg grinned at her.  “You are my best friend as well as my wife.  You were a friend in need and it was definitely my pleasure to help you out.”

 

 

Epilogue

 

Greg stood in front of the big gas grill that had been part of the house they had bought a few years before.  Jenni, now a mature thirteen and coming into puberty, came out of the house carefully carrying a tray of brats and burgers.  Greg took possession of the tray with a kiss to his daughter’s cheek.

 

He looked past the deck to see Nick and Heidi (the first of Traci’s three children) watching their siblings as they played on the play set.  Having six children could be a handful, but he loved each and every one of them.  They had come through a lot during the past ten years, but it was worth every minute of it.

 

There had been some rough spots to be sure.  Mandy’s car accident had left her and their youngest in the Intensive Care Unit for weeks.  Traci’s battle with the local school district about her ‘unusual’ marriage had taken its toll.  They had also watched their friends go through divorces, breakups, and deaths.

 

Charlie and Kathi had broken up and got back together several times.  Kathi’s sister, Melissa, had barely gotten out of an abusive relationship and probably would have been dead if it wasn’t for the trio.  Greg's grandfather’s death had been hard as well, but the old man had passed with family around him, so he wasn’t alone like he feared would happen.

 

Maria was one of the first to arrive for the celebration. She had put on a few pounds in the past few years after having two children before her divorce.  She was between assignments for one of the large news magazines.  Being a journalist had been good for her.

 

Before long the rest of their friends arrived.  There were a few who they had known from college as well as a couple of Greg’s top men in the company, all with their families.  Heather and Adrian were still together, with Greg’s mother now owning the company she had once worked for. 

 

Traci and Mandy brought out the rest of the food.  Traci was still teaching with a private secular school for the gifted. It was rough for her at times, but she loved it and probably would do that work for the rest of her career.  Mandy was still selling her artwork, but stayed home most of the time. 

 

It was a pleasant afternoon and evening.  Charlie told them about his work in the Diplomatic Corps, making them all laugh with the antics he had seen.  Since they were together again, Kathi shared some of the problems she'd had trying to set up housekeeping in a new country every few years.  The others caught everyone else up on their lives.

 

As they closed the door, Greg mentioned that he thought they should all get together more often.  Mandy reminded him that the group had been flung so far across the globe that they couldn’t make it more often.

 

Traci got the idea in her head to make it a Christmas date for everyone to fly to the villa.  Arm in arm the three walked up to their bedroom, the girls working out the details.  Greg once again wondered how his life would have turned out if he hadn’t helped a friend in need, Mandy, so many years ago.  At the doorway, he looked in to see his two beautiful wives removing their clothing and making a place for him between them.  Grinning, he shut the door.

 

FINIS

 

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