Odalisque
Twenty-six
THE DAYS WERE A BLUR of confusion and if not for Kate and Bree, I wouldn’t be able to remember any of it.
Police. Doctors. Reporters. Some of this probably isn’t in the right order, but it’s what I remember.
Neither Kate nor I left Wendy. Bree slipped in and out to get us food and fresh clothes. Word spread that I was the one who called 911 and alerted the camp before the explosion and they cut me a little slack. I think they admitted me instead of treating and releasing so I could stay. I had college health insurance and didn’t really care if it didn’t cover everything. There was a second bed in Wendy’s room and we were told it was mine. I don’t remember if I ever slept in it.
Wendy and I were released on Tuesday. There was a storm brewing outside. Bree brought her car to the front entrance. A reporter pushed a microphone at us.
“Miss Martin, can you comment on the arrest of your father?”
“Was this a personal attack on you?” shouted another.
“Will you be pressing charges for enslavement?”
Wendy’s mouth fell open in terror and I caught her as she fainted.
“Get the fuck out of our way,” Kate growled at the reporters. That stuck in my memory. I’d never heard Kate so angry.
“Wait! That’s Tony Ames. Did you recognize the attacker?” someone called as I carried Wendy to Bree’s car and we got in. “Do you have a relationship with his daughter?”
“What the hell is going on?” I yelled at Bree when we got underway.
“It was just on the news,” Bree said. She was shaking tears out of her eyes so she could drive. Kate reached over to touch her. “They arrested Wendy’s father. Police went to tell him about Wendy and discovered he had suspicious burns on his hand and arm. They got search warrants and found evidence that he’d spray-painted the gas tanks in his garage.”
The son-of-a-bitch.
“They’re still asleep.— No.— I was so scared.— What would I do?— No. We’ll be there in two days.— I need you to hold me.— I don’t know if I can take this.”
It took me a minute to realize that Kate’s voice was coming from behind me as she whispered into the phone. That meant that the hand clutching mine and the skin against my side must belong to Wendy.
“I love you.— I can’t wait to see you.” Kate disconnected.
I looked up at her as she moved back into the bed and reached my hand toward her. I was feeling okay, though my face stung like hell. The salve the hospital had given us numbed the area slightly. The good thing about having been burned and using the treatment was that I could tell when Wendy was going to need more on her burns. She wouldn’t have told us.
“Kitten, I love you.”
“You break my heart, Tony. What if we’d lost you? Either of you?”
“It will be okay. We survived. Please don’t pull away, Kate. We need you. I love you.”
I think I got through to her. She slid up next to me and draped her leg across mine as she snuggled against my left side.
“I love you, Tony. I love you.”
From the other side, I felt Wendy squeeze my hand, almost painfully. I got her message.
Clarice went straight to work on Tuesday, commandeering my cell phone that was ringing non-stop and giving me a new, pay-as-you-go phone that let me stay in touch with my family. She met with our lawyer and they prepared a statement that satisfied the press hounds for a day. Some school official joined them. They said generally that we had no knowledge of the arrest or the involvement of Wendy’s father. Wendy and I were long-time friends and she was one of several models that I used in my paintings, referring reporters to the Rhapsody Suite. She affirmed that I had only discovered recently that Wendy was living at Tent City where I was one of the student security liaisons.
Clarice was brilliant. She deflected all the attention away from us individually and talked about how the students at SCU rallied to support the homeless and that several former residents had been moved into dormitories until their housing situation was resolved. She was able to turn the briefing over to the school official who completely rerouted the conversation away from Wendy or me.
“So how many sleeping spaces will we need?” Mom asked.
“Um… well, Mom… there’s a total of eleven of us coming when Sam gets there.” It had taken some convincing, but Sam had finally agreed to fly out Saturday and join us for Christmas.
“Tony Ames, you know very well what I’m asking,” Mom said. “We’ll put Jack and the boys in your room. You, Lissa, Melody, and I suppose Kate will share the guest room. I can put Bree, Wendy, and Lexi in the sewing room.”
“Mom… I don’t think Wendy will sleep anywhere without either Kate or me next to her,” I said. Wendy hadn’t said much yet. I didn’t ask her to come to Omaha with us, I told her. She just nodded her head. I know that was against our principle of not ordering her around, but neither Kate nor I could leave her alone in Seattle. I wasn’t sure but what she’d hurt herself. She was overwhelmed by guilt.
“Well, it’s not fair to leave Bree with Lexi. Lexi gets the sewing room and you’ll have to figure out how to sleep onetwothree… six in the guest room. That’s your problem. Sam can have the den.”
“Mom?”
“If Beth wants to stay over…”
“Mom!”
“Yes, Tony.”
“I love you.”
Sam picked up my keys from Bree and went to the hospital parking lot to get my car. He brought it to the house at midnight on Wednesday and took Wendy, Kate, Bree, and me to the airport. We checked in early and went through security where reporters couldn’t follow. Lissa had a membership in one of the airline member clubs and arranged for us to be in a comfortable place for a few hours. We just huddled together in a corner and slept.
Jack and the boys checked in about eight in the morning. Our plane took off at ten.
I wasn’t sure yet where we’d all fit, but Mom and Dad insisted they were prepared for us. No matter how old you get, or how much responsibility you have, sometimes you just need parents to take care of you.
Jack rented a fifteen-passenger van and signed Lexi and Lissa as drivers. You know what really sucks? None of the rest of us in the family is old enough to rent a car or be a designated driver. Well, Bree and Wendy could, but it would cost a lot extra.
Our reunion with Melody and Lissa was almost desperate. Kate and I grabbed them and held them so hard we were crushed together and they held us just as tightly. When we looked around, the boys were clinging to Melody’s and Lissa’s legs and Lexi was hugging Jack. We opened our embrace wide enough to bring Bree and Wendy into it.
Yeah, and there wasn’t a dry eye, but you expected that.
The boys went absolutely wild when we went outside. It was snowing, adding to the inch or so that was on the ground.
I rode shotgun as Jack drove so I could give him directions. I looked back at the family behind me. Melody and Bree rode on either side of Drew’s car seat in the first row. Lissa and Lexi sat on either side of Damon’s car seat in the second row. Kate and Wendy sat together in the fourth row. We had the last row of seats and the limited space behind it packed with our luggage. Lexi, Lissa, and Melody had brought huge bags of presents with them and the boys kept trying to guess what was in them. The van looked like a bus when it pulled up, but now that it was full, it didn’t seem so big.
The drive was pleasant and not too treacherous. I was still glad Jack was driving. Lexi started singing “Jingle Bells” and before long we were all singing and going from one song to the next as we went “Over the River and Through the Woods.” I noticed that even Wendy smiled a little and was moving her lips.
Mom and Dad were smiling and waiting on the porch for us when we pulled the van into the driveway. I was delighted to see Beth. What a different Christmas it was going to be this year than last. Last year, I’d come home from college depressed and determined I wasn’t going back. I spent the entire break alone, filling out transfer applications.
When ten of us piled out of the van, though, the party started.
“Wendy, let me take a look at your burn, sweetheart,” Mom said. “I’ll bet you haven’t had any salve put on it since you left Seattle this morning, have you? Come with me and we’ll take care of things.”
She looked a little panicked for a moment, but Kate just went with them and didn’t make a big deal out of it. She asked Mom if she had any special techniques for applying things so it didn’t hurt so much and they were chatting away as Mom took them to the upstairs bath.
“Hi. You must be Bree,” Beth said walking right up to the redhead. “You’re the only one I haven’t met before. I’m Beth.”
“Hi, Beth. I’ve heard Tony talk about you. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You’re around them all the time,” Beth said, casting an evil eye at me. “I want to know all about it. Give me the scoop.”
“Dumpling, you can’t go gossiping about us like that,” I laughed.
“But Tony! I haven’t seen you since Labor Day. All kinds of things might have happened since then.”
“Come on, you guys,” Melody said. “You were with us last weekend, Beth. Help get all our crap to wherever we’re sleeping and we’ll gossip where our parents can’t hear us.”
“Oh, uh… this way,” I said. “Jack, you and the boys get my room.” We hauled the ton of luggage up the stairs and I showed them my room. Mom had laid sleeping bags out for the boys. “I’ll empty a couple of drawers for you as soon as I get the rest of us settled.” I took Lexi’s bags to the sewing room with a sofa bed.
“Oh, this looks comfy,” Lexi said. “And look at all these dolls!” Long-legged ragdolls were the main craft that Mom sewed. Every baby in the county grew up with one of them. Mine sat on my dresser.
We pushed the door of the guestroom open and could barely get inside. The bed was gone. Well, let’s say the bedframe was gone. In its place, two queen-sized mattresses occupied most of the floor-space. Both beds were made up and there were about a hundred pillows piled up against the wall. I don’t know where Mom got all the bedding.
“Ooo! Slumber party!” Beth screamed. “Can I stay over?”
I looked at Melody and Lissa. Their eyes were wide open and smiles were on their faces. Bree scarcely contained her laughter.
“I don’t see why not,” I finally said. “No one’s going to get any sleep tonight anyway. Better go get your stuff.” Beth ran up and kissed me, then Melody and Lissa.
“Be right back!” she announced and bolted.
We looked at each other and sighed.
“Um… I think I’ll go see if I can help your mom, Tony,” Bree said. She looked at the three of us. “You guys should have at least a little alone time before the rest of us camp out next to you.” She finally lost it and laughed. When she left the room, she closed the door tightly.
I fell into the arms of my lovers and onto the mattresses.
“Oh, I’ve missed you so much, lover!” Melody cried into my mouth as she kissed me. Lissa pushed at her lips with her own until we were all three sharing our kiss.
“You can’t imagine,” I said. “I’ve been holding so much inside.”
“You had Kate,” Lissa said.
“Oh, wives. You know how much I love Kate. She fills a part of my soul I didn’t even know existed. But that doesn’t stop me from aching when I’m away from you,” I said. “And the past few days have been… stressful. We haven’t… We couldn’t…”
“We need Kate,” Melody said, standing up. I pulled her back down.
“You can’t,” I said. “I’ll go when we’re ready, but one of us has to be with Wendy. I worry about her all the time. I honestly think she might hurt herself if she’s alone.”
“She’s never going to be alone in this house,” Lissa said. “But I understand.” Melody already had my zipper down and was fishing in my pants. She caught a big fish for such a small pond. Before I knew it, warm lips had wrapped around my shaft.
We kissed. We petted. We made love. We were fast. We’d hardly begun but were all three naked and Lissa was riding my mouth while Melody rode my cock. We came, one at a time, but in rapid succession, each of us setting off the other. My life felt complete again.
When I emerged from the playroom, as we dubbed the guestroom, I found Bree, Beth, Kate, and Wendy in the living room with the boys. Jack and Dad were in the Den and Lexi and Mom were in the kitchen. Mom has one credo to live by: If there are guests, feed them.
I leaned over Kate’s shoulder and kissed her tenderly. After the first kiss, she licked my lips and all the area around them.
“Lissa,” she breathed.
“They’re waiting for you,” I whispered. Kate stood up and before Wendy could react, I slipped over the back of the couch and plopped down on her left. She grabbed my hand and clutched it tightly. I leaned over and kissed the left side of her mouth. The right side was still tender, but there were no blisters. There were a few blisters higher on her cheek and the temple where her hair had burned. Wendy sighed and relaxed beside me, not letting go of my hand.
“So did Bree fill you in on all the gossip?” I asked Beth. Beth clamped her mouth over mine in a very hard kiss. I wouldn’t have called it passionate or loving. It was a mashing of mouths that pushed my head back into the cushions.
“You are a hero,” she said. “I knew there was a fire but I had to leave before we found out all the details. I didn’t know the whole story.”
“I didn’t really do anything but scream like a little girl,” I laughed.
“No!” Wendy exclaimed. “You are a hero! You’re my hero.”
It was more words than I’d heard Wendy speak at one time since the fire. Mostly she’d just nodded her head or answered questions in monosyllables. It was an important moment. She looked at me as if I’d just saved the world. I guess maybe I did save her world.
“Tiger, I hope I can always be your hero. There’s nothing I’d like better,” I said.
She leaned against me. She always stayed on my right because her left side was uninjured. We had to be careful around her right arm and the right side of her face.
“I’m not a tiger anymore,” she said. “I don’t have any… fur.”
I leaned in and whispered to her.
“I haven’t been able to for a while,” she said, dropping her head.
“Maybe we can get Melody to dye it,” I suggested.
Wendy actually giggled. Who knows? Maybe Melody could dye her pubic hair.
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