JC: Ed Biggers
Part 3: Accretion
Chapter 8
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

The entire week had been hectic for Ed. Ed and John had gone out 
to the site where John was going to start the Druid College. The 
thick woods and highly diverse animal life of North Carolina was a 
jarring change from the open desert. The trees seemed to swallow 
the sky, making it look much smaller. The distance one could see 
was measured in feet rather than miles. Knowing that when the 
college opened, they would have to live there for a while, he 
wondered if he could ever get used to living around the woods.

While John had gone on to Washington D.C., Ed had returned 
home. Once home, he had put in two full days at the IRS office 
finishing a case against several corporate executives that had been 
misusing corporate assets. The fraud committed by these 
executives was huge. There was a possibility that hundreds of 
millions of dollars would be lost by investors if the perpetrators 
weren't exposed before long. The arrests were going to make the 
national news.

On John's return from the capitol, the family had dinner with 
Robert White Feather. This was a ruse so that they could determine 
whether he would be a good candidate for a husband. The entire 
family had been excited about the prospect and felt a little let down 
when they learned that Robert had other plans. 

Two days after the dinner, Beth had flown out to her conference in 
Los Angeles. The trip itself wasn't significant, but it had become a 
symbol for a major change that was going to take place in the 
house soon. She was going to try to have a child after she returned 
from the trip. Everyone was excited about the prospect of having 
children in the house. 

Relaxing on the couch in the informal living room, Ed considered 
his schedule for the next few days. His thoughts were disturbed 
when John went to the mini-refrigerator to refill his iced tea. 
Watching John for a minute, he noticed the small mannerisms that 
suggested John was bothered by something. There was that little 
edge to his behavior that showed he was trying to hide it. Curious, 
Ed asked, "What's the matter?"

John frowned and answered, "I don't like that Beth went to Los 
Angeles for that medical conference."

Ed examined John carefully trying to decide what motivated this. 
He couldn't help wonder if it was a sign from the Gods and 
Goddesses. He had been having the feeling that something big was 
going to happen soon and couldn't place his finger on it. 
Concerned, he asked, "Why?"

John shook his head and answered, "I have a feeling that 
something bad is going to happen there."

"So let's go there and join her," suggested Ling. It was in her 
nature to favor direct action to a problem. Solving the problem or 
overwhelming the problem with excessive force was the same to 
her. 

John walked to the intercom and pressed the button connecting him 
to the office. When Cathy answered, he said, "Cathy, arrange a jet 
to take us to LA."

Cathy acknowledged the request and went to work. John turned to 
face the others in the room and asked, "Who wants to go?"

Ling answered, "I'll go. Ed should stay here so that someone will 
be home when Kelly gets off work."

Ed argued, "Hold it, I'll watch his back for him."

Ling asked, "Who has the black belt? Whose job has been 
bodyguard? I should be the one that goes."

Their discussion was suddenly halted when John dropped to his 
knees screaming, "No!"

Ed initially thought that John might be upset with them for 
arguing, but John had never reacted like that in the past. Then he 
realized that something else was the matter. John cried, "It's not 
fair. She was going to be a mother!"

The statement ripped through Ed like a knife thrust into the 
stomach. He and Ling quickly moved to John's side to help him to 
the couch. Once John was seated, Ed asked, "John, what 
happened?"

"She's dead. Beth is dead." John replied. The words fell like stones 
on the floor.

Still unable to process everything, Ed knew that now was the time 
for the family to gather. He raced over to the intercom and buzzed 
the garage. After a quick greeting from Bob, Ed directed, "Bob, get 
one of the cars and go to the hospital. We need you to pick up 
Kelly and drive her home. Just tell her that her presence at the 
house is needed."

Ed returned to sit by Ling as the full import of John's message 
began to sink in. Beth was dead. The knowledge that he would no 
longer be able to share his life with her ripped a huge hole in his 
heart. Tears ran down his face. He looked up to see tears streaming 
down Ling's face and knew he was not alone in this. 

Thirty minutes after John had collapsed the telephone rang. Ed 
stood up and answered it. Cathy explained that there was a long 
distance call from Los Angeles. This was the moment that Ed 
realized that none of the staff knew what had happened. He told 
her that he would take the call.

A man's voice on the other end of the line asked, "Am I speaking 
to the husband of Dr. Beth Hayes?"

"Yes, you are talking to one of her husbands," answered Ed.

There was a long moment of silence as the man considered the 
answer. Finally, he said, "I'm Officer Mike Tougas from the Los 
Angeles Police Department."

"Officer Tougas, I'm Ed Biggers. I have to assume that you have 
some news concerning Beth."

"A half an hour ago, Beth was struck and killed by a car."

Ed was silent for a moment wondering how one was supposed to 
react to such news. What does one say when told that their wife is 
dead? Not knowing what else to say, he asked, "Could you leave 
me a number where you may be reached?"

Officer Tougas, expecting some exclamation of grief, answered in 
a suspicious tone of voice, "Why?"

"My family will fly out there. I need to inform the staff and then 
we will leave. Once I arrive, I expect to meet with you. I have to 
determine to my satisfaction if her death was the result of 
malfeasance or an accident."

"You suspect foul play?"

Thinking of all the attempts on their lives that had occurred in the 
past, Ed had to answer, "It is a possibility, particularly when you 
consider the history of our family."

Mike told Ed the number while Ed copied it down on a piece of 
paper. After a few minutes of conversation, he hung up the phone 
and turned to face Ling and John with a wounded expression on his 
face. Shuffling over to the couch, he sat down beside Ling and held 
her tightly. Beth was the first person that Ed had lost since his 
parents and he didn't know how to deal with the grief. The reaction 
to his parents' death had been one of anger and he had gone out 
into the desert to drink himself unconscious. That wasn't an option 
for this death. 

Holding onto Ling, he started crying, giving voice to his grief. 
Seeing Ed in such pain, Ling started to cry as well. Although she 
was the newest member of the family, everyone knew that it 
started with Ed and Kelly. Beth was the third to agree to the 
marriage and John was the forth. 

By the time Kelly returned home, Ed and Ling had gotten 
themselves under a little better control, but Kelly could tell as soon 
as she entered the house that something was wrong. She moved to 
the informal living room as a sense of dread settled upon her. She 
froze when she saw the looks on the faces of her husbands and 
wife. She asked, "What is it?"

The three of them got off the couch and moved to Kelly. John and 
Ed put an arm around her as Ling moved in to hug her. John said, 
"I'm sorry Kelly. Beth was killed in LA about an hour ago."

Kelly's legs collapsed out from under her, but she didn't fall to the 
floor. Catching her, the two men carried her over to the couch and 
set her down. Ling looked at John accusingly and asked, "How can 
you accept this so calmly?"

With a sigh, John said, "It is simple, I have died and know that it is 
not a bad thing. I am sad because I will not get to share my love 
with her and she with me."

Kelly replied, "I feel so guilty because I'm thinking about myself."

John said, "Don't feel that way. She is fine now. We are the ones 
left behind to continue without them. It is natural that we think of 
our loss."

What John had said allowed Ed to come to grips with his feelings. 
He was about to comment when Cathy came into the room and 
said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Beth's father is on the telephone 
and he wants to talk to you."

Once Cathy left, John turned on the speakerphone. "Hello, Dr. 
Hayes. You're on the speakerphone here and the whole family is 
gathered."

"I'm so sorry. We were at lunch and a car lost control. I couldn't do 
anything," he said. His voice broke as the sound of him crying 
came across the telephone. He sobbed, "Oh, God, I'm so sorry."

Feeling for the man, John said, "We understand there was nothing 
you could do. You've done nothing that requires an apology. 
Where are you?"

"I'm in the hospital in LA."

"Are you alright?" John gave Ed a look that conveyed he was to 
make all of the necessary arrangements with Cathy. Standing, Ed 
went to the door waiting to hear the rest of the message.

"I've got a broken leg and a fractured disk."

John asked, "Where's Mrs. Hayes?"

"She's at home. I called her and let her know."

Ed nodded at John and went to find Cathy. He knew she had 
become suspicious about all of the calls that were suddenly being 
made. Slipping into the office, Ed said, "Cathy, please get the staff 
together in the library."

It didn't take Cathy long to get the message to everyone. 
Marguerite and Bob had been in the kitchen wondering why he had 
been sent to get Kelly. Clueless that a major tragedy had befallen 
the family, Linda was in the laundry washing clothes while Dave 
was in the security room. Sighing, he said, "Cathy, come with me 
to the library."

In the library, the entire staff had gathered and each staff member 
was looking around uneasily. As Ed looked over them all, he 
realized that he had not interacted with Dave once during the past 
three months. Making a mental note to follow up on that later, Ed 
said, "Please sit down everyone."

He waited until everyone had sat down and then, in a very solemn 
voice, said, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news and I know of no 
nice way to say this, but Beth has passed away."

Marguerite burst out in tears as Bob put an arm around her to 
comfort her. Linda made a wailing sound of grief that sent chills 
down everyone's spine. Paling, Cathy cried as her suspicions were 
confirmed. Shaking his head as though to deny what he had heard, 
Dave sat there frowning at the news.

Still numb from the news, but dealing with the situation much 
better, Ed waited five minutes for the staff to process the news. 
There was just too much to do and too little time to properly 
handle this with individual attention. Clearing his throat to get their 
attention, he said, "The family is flying to LA about an hour. 
Cathy, I need you to arrange for a plane to take Beth's mother to 
LA. Dave, you will have to be especially diligent on security. 
Linda, I would appreciate it if you would assist Cathy over the next 
few days. Marguerite, I want you to take care that everyone gets 
rest and eats. Bob, I want you to take charge of the household."

Ed hoped that giving people things to do would enable them to 
focus on things other than their grief. When they sat there staring 
at him, he remembered the words of John. He said, "John has died 
twice and knows that death is not a horrible thing. We who live on 
will feel the emptiness in our hearts as we miss their presence. Do 
not feel guilty because your thoughts are about yourself rather than 
about her." 

He returned to the office with Cathy and watched as she made the 
arrangements for the plane to take Beth's mother to LA. When she 
hung up, Ed handed her a piece a paper as he said, "Here's the 
number of the officer that called us. Call him and find out what 
hospital Beth's father is in. Then, I want you to arrange a suite for 
the five of us close to the hospital. We'll need a limousine while 
we are there. Finally, let the officer know that I expect to meet 
with him this evening or tomorrow morning."

Ed stood and returned to the informal living room where the rest of 
the family was gathered. Despite knowing better, he kept expecting 
to see Beth sitting there. All eyes turned to him waiting to hear 
what he had to say. Quietly, he said, "We should pack and get 
ready to leave for the airport. A jet has been arranged for Beth's 
mother and, despite the longer distance, she will most likely arrive 
about the same time as us. Cathy is arranging for a suite at a hotel 
near the hospital. I will talk to the officer that called."

Now that everyone had something to do, they each went to work. 
Ling walked a moment with Ed and then said, "I should have gone 
there with her."

"No, you shouldn't have," replied Ed as he realized that he should 
have known she would feel guilty about not having been there to 
protect Beth. They walked a few more steps and then he said, "It 
was her time. If it hadn't been her time, then the Gods and 
Goddesses would have warned John or I. Believe me when I say 
that we would have all been there to protect her from harm."

Ling said, "If I was …."

Interrupting, Ed said, "You could have done nothing more than the 
Gods and Goddesses."

"You're right," said Ling. She stopped and pulled his head down to 
where she could kiss him. After giving him a gentle kiss, she said, 
"Thanks."

"You're welcome," replied Ed. He watched as she went to her 
room. From her movements, he could tell that she was feeling 
much better. The problem was that he wasn't feeling better. That 
same feeling of something major happening soon hung over him.

After Ling left, he went to the wall where Beth had hung the 
portraits taken several months ago. The order of pictures on the 
wall started with Kelly and progressed to him, Beth, John, and then 
finally Ling. Beth had put little brass plaques under each picture 
with the birth date and the date they had joined the marriage. It was 
only now that he realized she had put a dash to after the birth date. 

The entire staff stood in a line by the door of the house to say good 
bye and to express their condolences. It touched Ed more than he 
was able to convey with mere words. Each staff member gave 
every member of the family a hug.  

At the LA airport, the family waited for Mrs. Hayes to arrive. It 
wasn't a long wait, but a nervous one. The expectation was that 
Mrs. Hayes would step off the plane distraught about the death of 
her daughter.  Instead, she had been in a good mood feeling like a 
queen flying around the country in a private jet.

Some of the ideas that had been suggested while flying to LA were 
presented to Mrs. Hayes. The family had decided that they were 
going to get a private nurse for Dr. Hayes while here. As soon as 
he could move, they would bring him to the house where he would 
stay in the clinic room that Beth had set up. In the mean time, they 
would build a separate house for them to live in and provide a staff 
member to take care of it.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the hotel.  John picked up the 
keys to the penthouse suite and they were immediately shown to 
their penthouse suite. The penthouse was huge, with four 
bedrooms, large living room, spa, dining room, an office, and a 
built-in bar. John shouted, "Okay, everyone. Pick a room. I'm 
claiming the office."

Beth's mother looked shocked at the suggestion that John be 
relegated to the study when everyone else had bedrooms. She said, 
"That's okay, I'll sleep on the couch."

As everyone else tried to convince Mrs. Hayes that John normally 
slept on the floor, Ed picked the smallest room for himself. 
Without drawing attention to himself, he entered the room closing 
the door behind him and settled down on the bed for a minute. 
Beth was the giving one in the family, always tender and 
compassionate. He already missed her a lot.

He opened the gym bag that contained all of his clothes, four 
shirts, two pairs of jeans, underwear, and socks with a plastic bag 
containing his razor, brush, toothpaste, and shaving cream. At the 
bottom of the gym bag was his robe. It was his standard traveling 
outfit. 

It was time to join the others. Ed came out of his room and saw 
Juan, the Hispanic man that had helped them the day of the 
earthquake. Going over to the man, he shook hands, and asked, 
"Juan, how are you doing?"

Before Juan had a chance to answer, Kelly entered the room and 
rushed over to Juan. After giving him a big hug, she said, "Oh, 
Juan. You look so sharp."

Juan burst out in a smile. He was amazed that these wonderful 
people remembered him from one day that had happened years 
ago. Juan answered them, "I am doing well. I'm so sad to see you 
again under these circumstances."

Kelly hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much."

Juan blushed. "I have come from the hospital. Dr. Hayes is doing 
well. The staff told me that doctors make the worst patients and 
he's no exception."

Juan fidgeted for a moment and then pulled an envelope out of his 
suit pocket. He handed it to Mrs. Hayes as he said, "I have written 
an obituary for Beth.  I would like your permission to print it in my 
newspaper. I've made a deal with the larger newspapers to run it 
also, if you approve."

Mrs. Hayes sat down on a couch and read the contents of the 
envelope. As she read, tears started to stream down her cheeks. 
When she finished reading it, she looked up at Juan. With a catch 
in her throat, she said, "It's so beautiful. You have my permission. 
You are a very talented and kind young man."

Juan frowned as he replied, "I do my best. It is hard to do less than 
that once your life has been touched by an angel."

John put an arm around Juan. "Juan, it is so great to see you. I hope 
that you will join us for dinner tonight."

Juan shook his head, "John, I won't join you for dinner tonight. 
You have traveled far today and will be tired. I don't want to 
intrude. I just wanted a chance to welcome you back to Los 
Angeles."

Ed recognized how difficult this was for Juan. During the activities 
of the earthquake, Juan had worked very closely with Beth and 
Kelly. It was funny, but the drug dealer had worked hard to earn 
their respect never realizing that just by doing what he could he 
had already earned it. Ed said, "Your consideration is really 
appreciated, but you wouldn't be intruding."

The telephone rang again. John answered it while Juan said his 
good-byes to everyone. After Juan left, John said, "Mrs. Dawn 
Ericson is on her way up to say hello to you."

The name meant absolutely nothing to Ed. He looked at Kelly and 
saw the same blank look. John added, "She said you had rescued 
her from slavery."

It still took Ed a moment to remember that she had been one of the 
adult women that had been rescued during the white slavery bust. 
He was amazed that she wanted to talk to him or Kelly when it was 
really John that had rescued her.

John opened the door and waited for the elevator to arrive. Ed 
knew that she had arrived when John said, "Hello, I'm John Carter. 
You must be Mrs. Dawn Ericson."

Dawn stepped into the room and spotted Kelly first. With a happy 
expression, she ran to Kelly and hugged her tightly. "Oh, it's so 
good to see you."

She turned and saw Ed watching her with Kelly. With a great big 
smile, she ran to him as she said, "Ed, you are still as handsome as 
ever."

Kelly smiled at the thought that this was another damsel in distress 
that Ed had rescued. She said, "Keep saying things like that to him 
and he's liable to believe you."

With a sudden look of anguish on her face, Dawn stepped away. 
"I'm so sorry about Beth. When I heard, I knew you would be 
coming here. I called every hotel looking for you. I just had to give 
you my condolences."

Mrs. Hayes asked, "How did you know my daughter?"

Dawn answered, "Several years ago I was abducted. They were 
going to turn me into a sex slave and sell me to some sick pervert. 
When I was rescued, Ed came into the room and untied all of us. 
Kelly came in and checked us out to make sure that we were 
uninjured. Beth was working feverishly to tend to the wounded. 
She was amazing and I'll never forget any of them for their heroic 
action."

"I never knew that."

Ed said, "John was seriously wounded in that raid. Beth had him 
stabilized, but she couldn't do much in the middle of nowhere. 
John died in the hospital. He was dead for four minutes before he 
came back to life."

Kelly added, "Ed was shot in the leg, Beth patched it up very 
nicely."

"I didn't know he had died saving us," Dawn said with a surprised 
expression. She looked at John. "You really are some kind of 
hero."

Nobody had noticed that Ling had been standing there hearing all 
of this. Dawn noticed Ling for the first time. She turned to her and 
said, "Hello, I'm Dawn."

John said, "Please excuse my manners. Dawn, this is our newest 
wife Ling. Ling, this is Dawn. I guess you heard her story already."

Dawn smiled at Ling. With a warm smile, she said, "You are one 
lucky woman to get these three. I'm so sorry about your loss."

Ling answered, "I know I'm the luckiest woman in the world."

Dawn turned around. She said, "Well, I had better get going. 
Please, call me if you need anything. I'm a great baby-sitter if you 
need one."

The offer of  baby-sitting tore through Ed like a knife. For three 
months, all the family had talked about had been Beth having a 
baby. He looked at the others and saw that her words had the same 
effect on them. John was the first to recover.

John laughed and replied, "Thank you very much for your offer. 
Take care of yourself."

Dawn breezed out of the room and to the elevator. John closed the 
door after her and turned to his family. He suggested, "We had 
better get out of here now, before someone else shows up."

The trip to the hospital was tough. It was not surprising to learn 
that Dr. Hayes was not a very good patient. They had arranged for 
a private nurse, a very scary looking private nurse, to take care of 
him. To say that Dr. Hayes wasn't happy would be an 
understatement. The tension in the room sapped Ed's strength.

Ed returned from the hospital exhausted. Retiring to his room, he 
wondered how it was that he seemed to be having the most 
difficult time dealing with Beth's death. His room was the smallest 
of the suite, containing a regular bed, a dresser, and a bathroom. 
Undoubtedly it was intended for a staff member or child of a party. 

Sitting on the bed, he thought about past times spent with Beth. It 
wasn't the great moments of passion or wild times spent in bed that 
affected him the most. It was the memories of their quiet times 
spent together that hurt the most. He had no idea how many 
evenings he had spent cuddling with her in bed. They had gone on 
picnics in the desert. There times when he had been working on 
something and she would come in to the room, put her hands on 
his shoulders, knead them for a moment, and then move on without 
disturbing him. There were the times when each sat on the couch, 
legs touching, as they read the journals of their respective careers.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Opening it, 
he found Kelly waiting for him. He said, "Hello, Kelly. Come in."

She came in and stood next to him waiting until he closed the door. 
Once the door was closed, she threw her arms around him and 
whispered, "I need to be held."

Ed put his arms around her, cradling her gently against his chest as 
her body molded itself against him. They stood like that for a long 
time before she said, "I never thought about one of us dying when I 
started the family. I don't think I could have gone through this 
alone."

"I know what you mean," replied Ed with a sigh. Smiling over her 
head, he said, "I don't think I've ever needed someone so much 
right now. Thank you for coming here."

After a few more minutes of the extended hug, they moved to his 
small bed to lie down upon it. Spooning, Ed held his arms around 
Kelly as he smelled her hair. They stayed quietly, taking comfort 
in the presence of each other. Neither one of them said a word as 
they lay there. If Mrs. Hayes had not been here, Ed was sure that 
all four of them would have been together in one room, holding 
each other.

In response to a knock on the door, Ed called out, "Come in."

Mrs. Hayes came into the room and looked around embarrassed 
when she saw them on the bed. Hesitantly, she asked, "Am I 
disturbing you?"

Snuggling against Ed, Kelly answered, "Ed is giving me a little 
comfort."

Correcting her, Ed said, "We are comforting each other."

As Kelly sat up, she asked, "Is there anything that we can do for 
you?"

Ed sat up beside Kelly and looked at the elderly woman. It amazed 
him at how well she was handling this crisis. Her solidness 
reminded him that the elderly had so much more experience in life 
than the young. 

Still uncomfortable, Mrs. Hayes said, "I just wanted to let you 
know that we were considering what to do for dinner."

Smiling, Kelly stood and put an arm around the elderly woman 
with a tenderness that touched Ed very deeply. Mrs. Hayes, giving 
into her need for loving contact, allowed herself to be guided from 
the room by Kelly. They went into the living room leaving Ed 
behind. Eyes misting, it took him a moment to collect himself. 

The feeling that something was wrong had grown on their arrival 
to LA. Ed knew that he was going to have to stay here until he 
could identify the problem. All he knew was that it wasn't yet time 
for him to act. However, it was time for him to join the others.

When Ed reached the living room, the group was discussing what 
to do for dinner. All discussion came to a halt when Ed said, "I'll 
abide by the wishes of everyone else, but the fact of the matter is 
that I don't want to go out tonight."

His statement echoed the sentiment of everyone in the room. It was 
decided that they would settle for room service. Ed picked up the 
menu and looked at it before he said, "I hate to say this, but I think 
we are talking broccoli, thick cut French Fries, and then some sort 
of meat dish. I've been spoiled by Marguerite."

"You're not spoiled by her cooking. The fact of the matter is that 
these meals are horrible." John picked up the phone and dialed 
room service. After a minute of conversation, John hung up. 
Turning to everyone else, he said, "The Chef will be up here in a 
minute."

Smiling, Ed said, "Good solution, my husband."

The result of a long discussion with the Chef was the arrangement 
of dinners that wouldn't have broccoli and thick cut French Fries. 
Tonight, they requested Spaghetti and meatballs suggesting that 
they would even settle for a jar of store bought sauce. Having 
settled dinner, the family sat around the living room talking quietly 
waiting for the food to arrive. The Chef had promised to deliver it 
within an hour. 

Dinner was common enough fare, but they enjoyed eating the 
spaghetti. After a comment from Kelly about the proper way to eat 
the noodles, Ed slipped the end of a noodle in his mouth and 
sucked it in as sauce splattered everywhere. Winking, John did the 
same thing making twice the noise. Kelly, laughing, finally said, 
"Boys! That's enough."

Watching the two men acting like children playing with their food, 
Mrs. Hayes asked, "How do you young ladies manage to live with 
those two?"

Smiling over at Ed, Ling said, "With great difficulty. It is hard to 
put up with their antics, but somehow they make everything 
alright."

Mrs. Hayes asked, "So what are your plans?"

Ed said, "I shall stay out here until Dr. Hayes is healthy enough to 
come home."

Frowning at the unexpected plan of Ed's, John asked, "Why?"

With a hand brushing across his chest where his medallion hung, 
Ed answered, "I don't know yet, but I need to stay here."

Ling, along with John, caught the gesture and knew what it 
implied. Without hesitation, Ling said, "I will stay here as well. 
You and Kelly can return home to take care of things at that end."

Mrs. Hayes, unaware of the subtext under which the discussion 
was taking place, said, "You children don't need to do that. I'm 
sure that I can manage alone."

Seated beside the woman, Kelly said, "I know we don't need to do 
it, but we want to do it."

Appreciating the support from his wives, Ed said, "You are 
family."