The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The Jilliad

Book 3

Mark’s Expanding Family

Chapter 7

The Biggest and Best Thanksgiving Ever, Part 2

After the impromptu meeting was finished, everyone agreed that Claud and Pierre needed to be told about what was going on, so Amber and Michelle would try to contact them respectively.

Joe walked up to Mark and smiled. “I have a message from ‘our wife’. She wanted to tell you that she was in the fifth room to the left.”

“Joe, are you sure you’re OK with this?”

“Are you kidding me? Linda and I have had more sex in the last four days than we’ve had in the last two years. The woman is insatiable and now that she is no longer having affairs, I can’t do it alone. Besides, you have given my wife back to me. It’s not just the sex, but the affection and the friendship that we used to have is back.”

“Joe, you know I never wanted to fall in love with Linda and for her to fall in love with me.”

“I know. But what’s done is done. Mark, I love my wife and you make her happy. She has told me point blank that I am husband number 1 and you are husband 1A. That means that she loves me slightly more than you because of our past and because of our living arrangements.”

“I just feel that I am getting close to you as a friend and I don’t want to ruin that. There is Jason and Kimmy to consider too.”

“Jason already knows and he’s OK with it. I don’t know how you did it, but there is nothing that my children would begrudge you. I feel the same way.”

“I’m glad you feel that way, Joe. I feel the same way about all of you,” smiled Mark.

“Now go play with our horny wife. I’m going to hang out with your dad and the other guys.”

Mark smiled as he walked toward the bedrooms.

Linda was lying on the bed wearing only a black teddy, with her legs spread wide open. She was wantonly fingering her drenched pussy.

When Mark knocked and identified himself, she quickly got up, ushered him into the room, closed the door, plastered her body to his and gave him a searing kiss. Mark then picked up the sexy forty-four year old woman and carried her to the bed.

“Missed me?” he grinned.

“Yes and no.”

“Really?”

“Well I am lucky enough to have two husbands, and Joe has kept me quite satisfied for the past few days,” she leered.

‘What about the ‘yes’ part?”

“Of course I missed you darling! Can’t you feel how wet I am for you?” she laughed before finding his lips.

Mark didn’t waste any time on the preliminaries. Linda was already primed and he was rock hard. Soon he was inside her thrusting into her for all his worth.

Linda still could not get over how she could love Joe and Mark so much. With Joe, they exceeded the best they had ever been for miles. The passion, affection and love she felt for him was more intense than she ever felt for any man. The strange part was she virtually felt the same way about Mark, though in a slightly less intense way. It was like all of the passion and love she had had or would ever have, had become magnified by ten and focused on two men. She knew that she would never have another affair. At the moment she did not really care. She would never need one with her relationships with Joe and Mark.

Mark could not believe how hot he was for Linda. While she was an incredibly lovely woman who looked at least five or six years younger than her age, she exuded an incredible sexiness which really stoked his fires. He knew he finally had her in complete mindless passion when he heard a strangled keening sound, as her body’s motions became wild and frenzied. Mark looked into his lover’s eyes and saw an inhuman look in them. He thought about when he had made her “his pet”. There was the same primal ferocity in her eyes. This made Mark so lust crazed that he began to flounder around on top of Linda, as she scissored his butt to keep him inside her. Mark then pushed himself as far as he could into her clenching channel and fired his seed deep into the wild woman beneath. His cry of passion and her overheated loins took her over the ledge too, as they shook and shuddered to a shared powerful climax.

In the afterglow they kissed and cuddled for a while, then Linda’s head drifted south as she took Mark’s cock in her mouth. It had never gotten soft, so Mark figured what she had in mind, as she licked him to another climax. “I’m such a nasty whore,” she grinned. “I had never let a guy cum in my mouth until this past weekend. Now I have swallowed for you twice and Joe four times.

“You’re not a whore. You’re just a woman in love,” he smiled, as he kissed her, despite his flavor in her mouth. They continued to kiss and fondle each other for another ten minutes. Then Linda smiled. “Mark, I don’t know what to say. You’ve changed my life. I have never felt so much love and passion as I feel for you and Joe. I am a much better wife to Joe than I’ve ever been...”

“You’ve been a pretty damn good wife to me too.”

“But we have a different relationship than Joe and I have. For you, our relationship is about passion and affection. For Joe, I give him those things, but I also give him companionship.”

“What about me?” he grinned slyly.

“Are you honestly going to tell me that you lack for companionship?” she laughed.

Immediately Trish Winthrop popped into his mind. “Damn, not only are you a passionate woman, but you’re really smart too.”

“See how we get each other? While you don’t need companionship from me, you know I’d give it to you if you needed it. I click with you the same way I do with Joe.”

“We do click,” admitted Mark, as he began to think about all of his mates. Like with Linda, at some level Mark “clicked” with all of his women and they all clicked with each other. Obviously the person he had the best rapport with was Trish. They completely understood each other’s needs and supported them. That is why he proposed to her. As it was said the best marriages were among best friends, Mark knew that since he could only have one officially recognized wife that it had to be Trish. But indeed, Linda was right about the kind of companionship she had with Joe. Like with he and Trish, Joe and Linda had a history. While there were many ups and downs, with the help of Mark eventually the downs brought them even closer to each other. That is the reason Joe would always be more important than he would be to her. She still loved Mark, as he loved her. “Linda, you give me everything I need, you sexy and loving woman,” he smiled before kissing her and then they got dressed.

* * *

Mark found all of the men folk except Rich, Jeff and Ben hanging out together in the study, drinking scotch. As he was the only underage person in the room, he decided to refrain, even though he was offered by Phil and his dad nodded his approval. He figured he needed to keep himself as grounded as possible. He could probably manipulate everyone in the room to get what his Id wanted, but as a man who typically had strong self-control, he felt he needed to flex those muscles from time to time just to keep himself honest.

“So Mark, I was meaning to ask. How does it feel to own the next big thing in the music industry,” laughed Phil.

“They are good, aren’t they, but Jason and I are pretty biased, right bro?”

“You know it,” grinned his friend.

“They are obviously good enough to make David Rivers and the mob go to great lengths in order to sign them,” said Joe.

“Well, we filed the service contracts and the contracts for song rights and publishing were sent to ASCAP on Tuesday before we left. Also, Josie and Amber officially joined the union. I wonder when Mr. Rivers will get the bad news,” mused Mark.

“Probably at some point next week. The holiday weekend may slow things down, business-wise,” said Mike.

“In the meantime, have Mr. Garnier and Mr. Portnoy been reached yet?” asked Mark.

“Amber finally was able to get through to her sister, but she accused Amber of being a ‘spoiled sport’ and a ‘little drama diva’ and then told her to ‘get over herself,” said Jason.

“Joe, do you really think they are in danger?” asked Phil.

“Danger? Probably not at this point. If these people are to be used as leverage, then no real harm should befall them. Let’s just say that they could be in some serious trouble. On Monday, I’ve set up a meeting with one of my Grandfather’s old associates. Hopefully he can steer us in the right direction. Still, I sense that something bad is going to happen to Mr. Garnier and Mr. Portnoy before that point,” he said grimly.

“So we have to keep trying to reach them?” asked Jason.

“Yeah, we should try to extricate them before Rivers’ masters have a chance to hatch their scheme,” said Joe.

“I’m going to talk to Amber and see if I can get through to her sister,” said Mark.

“Good idea,” said Bill.

* * *

Mark pulled Amber aside and told her what he had in mind. She handed him her cell and he called.

“Don’t you ever give up, you bitch?” spat the angry words that came over the line.

“Hello to you too,” grinned Mark.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Look, Tammy, I am a friend of Amber’s. What she’s telling you is true. Did she tell you the circumstances?”

“Sort of,” she softened, as for some reason this man’s tone of voice sounded commanding and sexy. She still wasn’t buying the message yet.

“Amber and her friend turned down a highly connected record company exec to sign with me. Now your family and three different members of her partner Josie’s family all have won ‘free vacations’ to spots which have reported links to organized crime, over a holiday weekend. You’re a smart girl Tammy, you do the math.”

Tammy thought. What he was saying had the stench of truth to it. Like it or not, Amber was a talented little priss. She had a great voice, even better than hers, though she had a really good voice too. The man seemed earnest too... and sexy. “I wonder if he looks as good as his voice sounds and if Amber was boning him,” she thought. He had called her smart too. She liked that. “OK, supposing what you say is true, My dad is down on the blackjack tables and even my mom can’t pull him away.”

This is what Mark feared. He was worried that he would lose so much money, that his debt would make him an easy mark for Rivers’ friends. “We need to get him away from that table. He can’t lose any more money!”

“He’s not losing. He’s on an incredible hot streak. After he won the first few hands, they moved him to a private room.”

Mark was confused. Were they just seeding him to get overconfident? He needed to check with Joe. “Tammy honey, can you hold the line while I check with someone about this?

“Sure,” she said enthusiastically, loving the fact that he was calling her “Honey”.

Mark excused himself from Amber, who went over to talk to Josie.

Mark quickly ran back to the study, pulled Joe aside and put the phone on speaker. “Joe, Tammy says that her dad is on a win streak.”

“That could mean any number of things. He may just be lucky. I doubt that though. They could be stringing him along to pluck him.”

“That’s what I thought,” said Mark.

“They are treating him like a VIP. They even moved him into a private room,” said Tammy Portnoy’s voice.

Joe took a moment to contemplate this fact. Then he became worried. “This is very bad. While a private room is officially considered part of the house, results can be easily manipulated by a crooked dealer and if someone bribes a security analyst who is supposed to be monitoring the room. This opens up another possible scheme.”

“What?” asked Mark.

“Instead of plucking him, they may let him win and then bring in a fake official to accuse him of cheating.”

“You mean like ‘counting cards’?”

“Exactly. If that is the scenario, the bad news is that it may be too late,” said Joe.

“What can we do?” asked Tammy, who now was solidly on-board.

“I have an idea. Do you think this could work Joe?” asked Mark.

* * *

Asa Danzig signaled up to the security booth at the Beachfront Casino to Drazik Benson . “We may need to make our play now. The mark and his wife are arguing outside the room. “She’s probably trying to get him to stop.”

“He’s only up by about twenty-five large. He has the liquid resources to cover that. I’ll try to convince him to keep going. I even may be able to get him to come down after his wife is asleep,” said Asa.

“OK, but this better work. If we fuck this up we’ll be in big trouble. Petrov already fucked up with the Bergeron whore. Apparently she had a change of address, so she obviously never showed up at her P.O. box to pick up the money. They’re still trying to track down where she is, but needless to say she hasn’t reported to The Gold Rush yet.”

“Damn! The boss will be ripped. I wouldn’t want to be that fuck up Rivers when this is all over.”

Claud Portnoy was dejected. His wife gave him an order. She said that if he did not follow it, she would divorce him and take all the money he would win anyway. While he did not believe in the story she had heard, he knew that she believed it. “Oh fuckin’ well. One more hand,” he thought.

“One more hand for tonight,” he told Asa.

“Since this is a private room, how about we raise the stakes. I’ll go double or nothing with the casinos money. 25K on this hand,” said Claud

Asa could hardly contain his glee. There is no way Claud could cover 50K within the required time.

The dealer dealt himself a 14 on a queen spades and four of diamonds.

The dealer dealt Claud a Jack of clubs and an 8 of diamonds.

The dealer knew that the next card was the king of hearts, As Claud had an 18, he would hold and the dealer was required to take a card, the house would bust, making Claud an additional twenty-five thousand dollars richer and in big trouble.

“Sir?” asked the dealer as a mere formality.

“Hit me, please,” said Claud, as it came out as a groan.

The dealer was shocked. He knew he had dealt him an eighteen, so there was no way in hell he would hit on that. He also saw Claud staring intently at his hands, so he couldn’t deal from the bottom. He tried to lower his hands, but Claud yelled “Stop! Give me my card!”

The dealer sighed and dealt him the king of hearts. Claud had lost all the money he had won, though he still had the thousand dollars he walked in with and after thanking Asa, he walked out of the room.

Asa stood there dumbfounded. “Why would he do that?” he thought.

* * *

Back in the room, Joe had Amber’s cell phone on speaker as he explained to Claud what the people at the game were up to. “They were going to let you win and then accuse you of ‘counting cards’. As you were in a private room, there would be less scrutiny on anything they said. You would then have been on the hook to them for fifty-thousand dollars with the threat of the casino going to the authorities concerning your supposed crime.”

“Well good thing you figured out what they were up to. By the way your plan to get me to lose was genius,” said Claud.

“I wish that I thought that up, but the credit goes to Mark Samuels, who is a really close friend of Amber’s and Josie’s. Anyway, you should probably sneak out of there ASAP.”

“We do have a problem. We’re kind of stuck. Our flight is not until Sunday. We have no place to go.

Joe and Mark looked at Phil and he nodded. “It is about a six hour drive to get here, but Phil Winthrop would like to extend an invitation for you to join us up in Concord, Massachusetts.

“Really?” asked Claud.

“Hello Claud, this is Phil Winthrop. Amber is already up here and three more mouths would be fine with Sharon, my wife.”

“Thank you, Phil. We’re much obliged. Yeah, we better leave without checking out. If we can sneak out, hopefully we’ll be gone before they know it. If we can leave within a half an hour, we may just be able to get there around two-thirty,” said Claud.

“Great. Call us back when you have the rental car and we’ll give you directions.”

The Portnoys had already begun packing as if their lives were at stake. While this would have been somewhat of an overstatement, if they stuck around, trouble would have surely found them.

* * *

In the parlor, The Lunds were catching up with their daughter and three granddaughters. Jeff also was there so he could be with Wendy. Soon, Phil, Mark and Mike walked in to explain that the Portnoy’s would be joining them for Thanksgiving. Sharon grinned, as Phil sat on the floor between his wife legs, and reclined back on her torso, as she began to stroke his hair.

Mark picked Trish up in the air, sat down and deposited his giggling fiancée on his lap. Not to be outdone, Mike did the same thing to Lauren with the same result. Of course Jeff got up, but instead of picking Wendy up, he sat on her lap. Everybody laughed.

Lorna and Hans smiled at their family’s antics. The four couples in the room were very much in love. Their daughter and grandchildren were bright, beautiful and caring women. Their men were much the same and seemed well suited for the women. The important thing was they felt loved. Most of the regret they were feeling had been hashed out on the way home. Despite being the youngest, Wendy helped them to get to the core of their problems and Trish and Lauren helped with important observations and ideas. Mark didn’t say a lot, but when he spoke he managed to cauterize many of the thoughts being presented.

* * *

At 10 PM, the last originally scheduled guests arrived. Chip and Edith Winthrop and their good friend, Marcy Alderson entered the parlor and were greeted by the ten people in the room. Marcy was the widowed sister-in-law of Mark, Alexis, Sarah and Jason’s Business Ethics professor, Dr. Gerald Alderson.

Chip looked around and was shocked at who he saw. “Hans and Lorna?!”

“Hello Chip. Hi Edith,” replied Hans with a nervous smile.

Over the next twenty minutes, the newcomers were explained what the Lund’s grandchildren and their significant others did to help them reconcile with them and more importantly Sharon. Ever since the fallout with her parents, Chip and Edith had become adoptive parents to Sharon. He remembered her heartache when they wouldn’t attend her wedding. It was Chip who gave her away to his own son. He had mixed feelings about his son’s in-laws, but holidays are times for forgiveness. He had seen how forgiveness had led to redemption in the case of Mike Caldwell. He would keep his feelings in check. He had bigger problems and had decided to confide in Mark about them.

Once Edith and Marcy had gone to get Marcy situated, he pulled his future grandson-in-law to the side. “Mark, do you have some time to talk on an important matter?”

“For you? Always.” said Mark, as he was led by Chip to a small, sparsely furnished room in back of the house. There were two chairs for people to sit at, while there was a desk with another chair too.

“I call this room my ‘Thinking Room’. I use it whenever I need solitude. I hope that one day after I’m gone that you will be able to put it to good use.”

“Thanks Grandpa. With all due respect I don’t want to think about losing you.”

Chip was touched. Little did anyone know, he had been starving for affection for years. “I think that is about the nicest thing anyone has said to me in some time.”

Mark was about to laugh, when he looked into Chip’s face and was shocked to see that he was being serious. He had no idea what to say.

“Anyway, son, I hate to trouble you, but you’re the only person I feel comfortable talking to about this.”

“Chip, you know you can tell me anything,” he said taking off his “grandson hat” and putting on his “friend” one.

“I’m counting on that,” he said grimly. “You see Mark, my marriage is in trouble.”

* * *

“What are you calling about and how did you get this number?” snarled the voice on the other end of the line.

“Pierre, can you just be civil for a moment. I have some troubling news...” started Michelle.

“Is it about Josie?” he asked worriedly.

Michelle was confused at his apparent concern for Josie. As far as she knew, Pierre had no contact with their daughter in a long time. “No, this is more about you and your family.”

“That’s touching,” he said as his tone moved from concern to sarcasm.

Michelle chose to ignore his tone. “You received a free trip to Atlantic City, right?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“Elise and I both received free trips to Vegas. Lucy’s sister, Dorothy ‘won’ a trip to AC too.”

“What does she have to do with this?”

“It’s a long story,” said Michelle.

* * *

“You mean Mrs. Alderson is at the root of your problem?” asked Mark.

“Yes. Edith and Marcy were roommates at Smith. I had known Marcy since we were young children, as she was the daughter of one of my dad’s best friends. I introduced her to her husband Fred and she returned the favor by introducing me to Edith.”

“Well that seemed to work out nicely,” said Mark.

“In some ways. Mark, you have to understand. I was never the love of Grandma Edith’s life. Marcy was.”

“She’s gay?”

“Or certainly bisexual. Don’t get me wrong Mark, She has been a wonderful friend and companion over the years and she did her wifely responsibilities from time to time, as evidenced by Phil, but a number of years ago, I suspected the truth. The main reason we moved down to Florida permanently was because Edith wanted to be closer to Marcy.”

“How does Marcy feel about this?”

“That’s the complicated part. About a month after Fred died, she admitted to me that I was the love of HER life.”

“What a strange twist of fate.”

“Yeah,” he said wistfully before continuing. “Last month, Marcy confessed all of this to me. She confirmed that Edith told her that she was tired of not being with her and that she was considering a divorce so that the two of them could be together. As Marcy was solidly bisexual and lonely, she suggested that the three of us share in an open relationship. Edith reluctantly agreed. They both gave me an ultimatum. Call me old fashioned, but I’m just not built that way.”

“Even if you were, there is a huge problem.”

“What?”

“Your relationship would be built on your love for Edith, her love for Marcy and Marcy’s love for you. There is a likely chance that none of you will be happy and things could get worse.”

“I never looked at it quite that, way. I’m still stuck. I know it’s not rational, but I love Edith. She’s been my best friend for 47 years and despite everything I’m still attracted to her.”

“What about Marcy?”

“She’s a beautiful woman, but I never really looked at her as anything more than a sisterly friend, because we kind of grew up together.”

“This is a complicated situation. What was the ultimatum you mentioned?”

“If I haven’t made up my mind by the time the weekend is over, then Edith will leave me and move in with Marcy.”

“Marcy wants to hurt you like that?”

“Mark, you’re young and you don’t understand how it feels to lose a spouse. Marcy is so lonely that she is yearning for companionship and intimacy. She genuinely cares for Edith and is attracted to her too. Still, I am seriously considering her offer, despite how it goes against my grain and your good point about making it worse.”

Mark thought. He would never have normally suggested what he was thinking of doing. He tried to find a reason why he should not suggest it, but there was no possible way that both Chip and Edith could be happy the way things were going. While he did not know Marcy, she was the sister-in-law of his favorite professor. This fact alone made her important to him too. While there was the risk of alienating Chip, he knew he had to try.

“Chip, I think I know a way of solving all of your relationship problems, but you’re not going to believe it at first and then you won’t like it once you believe. ”

* * *

It took some doing, but between Michelle and Bill, they were able to convince Pierre not to go to Atlantic City. This was difficult as it seemed that Pierre seemed to partly blame Michelle for his estrangement from Josie and did not trust his ex-wife. It was odd, but Michelle sensed that maybe Pierre paying for Josie’s sophomore year was not just about guilt. Pierre seemed genuinely happy that Josie was doing well, though Michelle did not give him any details of Josie’s life. What Michelle had not known was the life altering turmoil that Pierre had been facing since Josie left.

* * *

“Mark, what you’re telling me is pure fantasy!” exclaimed Chip.

“Remember, I told you that you wouldn’t believe it. Now I have to prove it and then you won’t like it because Trish is involved,” sighed Mark.

“How are you going to prove it?” asked Chip warily.

Mark picked up his cell phone and dialed and put it on speaker. “Hey Babe? Do you know where Grandpa’s special room is?”

“Sure Marky,” her voice sounded brightly.

“Could you please roundup Amber and Monique and bring them here.”

“What’s up, Babe?”

“We need to tell Grandpa.”

“I thought we were not going to tell him or Grandma Edith,”

“Situations are forcing us.”

“Be there in a few, Sir Mark.”

“Thanks, my sweet Lady Trish,” he disconnected.

Chip Winthrop heard every word of the conversation. While he hadn’t believed Mark, he now was feeling ill at ease. He then thought about Patricia’s voice and what she said. She didn’t sound like a mindless drone or a fawning sex slave. She even questioned Mark’s need to tell him. He also heard the affection that was in their voices and the pet names they called each other. Now he did not know what to think.

In a few minutes a knock came at the door. Chip then saw his oldest grandchild, another stunningly beautiful blond, and an incredibly lovely, sweet looking black girl walk into the room and close the door.

“Grandpa, if Mark told you about us, there must have been an urgent reason for him to do so,” said Trish.

“Patricia, what Mark is telling me is madness! Please tell me that you are just humoring him and that you are looking for a chance to escape!”

“Grandpa, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. I guess we’ll have to prove it to you,” she said before kissing Mark passionately before doing the same to Monique and Amber. Mark then kissed Amber and Monique.

Chip collapsed into his chair. “Were they all insane?! On the surface they did not seem to be,” he thought. Then a scary thought hit him. “For God’s sake, please don’t tell me that Wendy is mixed up in this madness!”

“Of course not!” cried Mark.

“Well, I’m thankful for that at least. Somehow I suspect that Phil and Sharon are affected. They have been acting way to nicely these days.”

“Mike and Lauren too,” said Trish.

“So are you two, still getting married?” asked Chip.

“Of course,” smiled Trish, as she walked over to Mark and wrapped her arms around him.

“That doesn’t bother either of you two young ladies?”

“Why should it?” asked Monique.

“We love them and we want them to be happy,” smiled Amber.

“You’re not jealous?” asked Chip.

“You don’t get it Mr. Winthrop.” said Amber.

“You’re right.” said Chip.

“Before all of the craziness, Mark and Trish were destined to be together. We all not only have accepted that but we’ve embraced it. While we know that they both love us dearly, we know that they are special to each other. Mark knew that from the beginning, but he finally was able to convince Trish of that,” said Monique.

“Their happiness is our happiness and vice versa,” said Amber.

“But if Mark is the only man you love, aren’t you sad that you’ll never get married?”

Trish laughed. “Grandpa, some of our mates are bisexual or even consider themselves lesbians. There is a decent chance that a number of them will marry someone else in our family.”

“Also, there may be a chance that men may join our core family one day, not that I’m rooting for that to happen anytime soon,” laughed Mark.

“Selfish!” grinned Amber as she planted a sweet kiss on Mark’s lips.

Chip looked for any sign of jealousy, but everyone was all smiles. It was almost a Utopian society, where everyone had self-actualized. They were all so comfortable in their own skin and with their feelings for one another, they could not feel emotions like jealousy or guilt. This was an incredible feat, but one that certainly defied human nature. Still, he thought back to how amazing Mark was when Trish had been kidnapped for the intervention. He thought how incredibly happy the rest of his family was and how miserable he was. Finally, he thought how he had decided to ask Mark for his advice and help. He knew that his future grandson was a caring man. Still, he did not want to join “The Cult of Mark”. “So Mark, does this mean I’ll become a happy little slave?” asked Chip.

“No, but it will mean that you’ll be happy, I know that may seem like a hard concept for you to understand,” he laughed.

“Ouch, I guess Mark can still be sarcastic,” he thought. Yet he could tell that it was just teasing. God, he was so miserable. “Edith or Marcy will not be hurt, right?”

“No, they will become truly happy. They will both love you and each other like a spouse. You will love them the same way.” said Trish.

Chip thought for a moment. He had longed for Edith to look at him with the same hunger that he looked at her with. Now if he just agreed, this is what will happen. Still, he felt that this should be all of their choice. “OK, Mark. Count me in on one condition. Edith and Marcy must agree to it too.”

“Agreed, but Trish and I have to be there when you talk about it. Wendy too,” said Mark.

“Wendy?! I thought she wasn’t involved...”

“She’s not, but she knows all about us and understands what we are about. She also approves of us,” said Trish.

“I guess that will be OK,” said Chip hopefully.