Chapter 25
The Turners arrived back in Palmdale at noon on October the tenth. The flight had been easy and everyone was in good spirits when they arrived at their ranch. Jake mentioned to Melissa that he felt a tug towards Keelmira but was glad to be back home. She wholeheartedly agreed.
"It will be good to be back in our own bed; plus, I need to get back to work. It will be so good, Baby, to have you here every night when I get home," she said.
"I could always go to work with you, Muffy. There must be something I'm qualified to do," Jake said.
"Baby, if you think you need to, I can find plenty for you, but I really think it would be better if you devoted your time to your future goals. You have a world to change, remember? Besides, it will be good for Junior to have you around. Not to mention I kinda like you being a kept man," she finished with a girlish giggle.
He grabbed her and flung her over his shoulder, carrying her to the bedroom as she laughed, squealed, and beat on his back.
"Then I guess I'd better start earning my keep," he said tossing her onto the bed.
They made serious love in the big bed and cuddled naked under the covers afterward.
"Oh, Baby," Melissa said, "Every time is as good as the first. Do you think it will always be that way for us?"
"The only reason it wouldn't be is if we quit trying. Everything isn't always going to be easy -- but I'm always going to be there for you, Wifey, regardless."
Jake did stay home while Melissa worked. It was an arrangement that fit who they were. Melissa did not resent him being home doing whatever he pleased and he did not feel threatened by her power or success.
Jake and Trish sat down and talked about his experience in Ireland as soon as they returned home. Jake did not know what to make of the whole O'Buckley thing. As much as he had loved the place, he did not feel that he had gained anything that would help him in the future. Trish saw it differently.
"Listen, Jake honey, it's true you didn't pull a sword out of a rock and become king. But what you did accomplish was to put a face on what I suspected anyway. Jake, you are the result of more than a hundred generations of men born to be leaders. Leadership is influencing people so they want what you want; you do that all the time. You say you have an insight into what some people need, Victoria Greer, for instance, and help them get it. I say that you decide what they need and your influence makes them want it too. Think about how that's going to help you achieve your goal, Jake. Instead of influencing just one person at a time, we need to find a way for you to influence millions. I think baseball is a good start."
Jake mulled over what she said; it seemed far-fetched but plausible. How else could you explain his seemingly charmed existence? What he wanted ended up happening. Sure, a couple of his plans had hit a few bumps in the road, but they always worked out in the end. He had his doubts about influencing more than a few people at a time; but Trish seemed sure about it and Trish knew more about things like that than anyone else alive. Jake arched his eyebrows at her in his best lounge lizard leer.
"So, you are saying that, if I thought about it real hard, I could get you in bed naked and horny right now?" he asked.
"It's worked every other time you've tried it on me," she answered.
Jake talked to Nina the younger as soon as he returned; she was still adamant about her desire. They made a date to meet at the bungalow in two days. He was going to honor her request even though he was conflicted about it. Jake went to bed with that conflict on his mind and his grandfather appeared to help resolve it. Once again, they were on the escarpment above Clew Bay watching the ocean pound itself to foam against the shore. Elliott was more substantial in this dream; before he had seemed a wispy apparition. Jake reached over and touched his arm.
"I can actually touch you; you must be gaining power," Jake said.
"You are the one gaining strength, Jacob, not me. It was the same for me after I visited Keelmira.
"So you are in a dilemma, lad, about taking what Cousin Nina is offering. Maybe I can put your mind at ease. Jacob, as the very insightful Patricia said, leadership is in your blood. Occasionally a leader with abilities similar to yours pops up at random. The problem with those leaders is that most suffer some form of dementia that also goes along with their charisma and powers of persuasion, like Hitler or Napoleon. Buckley men, on the other hand, inherit their ability as a biological trait, like hair and eye color. And Buckleys breed true. The trait passes intact from one generation to the next.
"Corinne told you about the female Buckleys staying youthful and living long lives, but that is only part of their inheritance. The other part is they are genetically programmed to be attracted to the dominant Buckley male. Young Nina is simply following her genetic imperative. I believe the De Danann started the practice of procreating with kin to keep the bloodline true. After many generations, it became a basic component of who we are."
"So that explains why Debbie, Angie, Helen, and the rest were eager to sleep with me," Jake said.
"Exactly lad, and it is why the women have the right to have you be their first. Nina is a very special young woman. Do you realize that she is the first person that you can say for sure had her future altered by your appearance? I believe it is much more than coincidence that you came back to the one body that can facilitate you changing the world. Who knows, maybe the De Danann planned for this all along. Anyway, you need to complete the circle with Nina."
Jake and Elliott talked about Keelmira and Corinne for a few minutes. Elliott wondered why Jake had not told Helen about her sister in Ireland. Jake told him that he was keeping it a surprise just as he had with her cousin Mary. When they all visited Ireland in the fall, Jake would introduce them. Elliott informed Jake that Corinne was indeed pregnant. Corinne was so certain it was a boy she had already named him Patrick Jacob Buckley.
Elliott went on to say that it was getting easier to visit his daughters in their dreams now. Jake's emergence as clan chief seemed to have activated and united the clan. Jake understood now why he was seeing so much of his family, as even his cousin Sean had been by to visit. It was spooky how close they were all becoming. Elliott's final words to him were that he needed to take care of his cousin Mary after he took care Nina.
"It is her due," Elliot said.
Jake woke up the next morning with a clearer picture of the incredible women in his family. Locked inside of each of them was another person that only the O'Buckley could free. The O'Buckley could either bind the woman to himself or set her free to make other attachments and enlarge the sphere of the clan. Without knowing it, he had freed all his cousins and his sisters. He pondered if he would need to change that for some of them. He had already made up his mind about Nina. She would be the first of the women he consciously knew what to do with. She was somehow a central figure in this time-line so he was binding her to himself. Plus, with Nina, he would use his influencing power to bind her to Melissa as well.
Jake told Melissa about the dream and his plans for Nina that morning before she went to work.
"That sure explains a few things, doesn't it? What a wonderful legacy your family has, and just think, if you hadn't come back to Jake's body it would have all just died out. As for little Nina, I think you'll find that it won't be that difficult to get her to join us. I think she already has a little crush on me."
Jake started to ask her how she knew that, then slammed his lips shut. It was hard for Jake to think of many people, male or female, who did not have at least a little crush on his wife.
Saturday morning Nina met Jake at the bungalow at ten. Jake took her coat and the small overnight bag she carried and led her into the living room. Nina looked sweet in an aqua angora sweater over a black knee-length skirt. Jake got them each a Coca-Cola and they sat on the couch and chatted. School was going well for Nina. She was a sophomore at Kennedy High and a junior varsity cheerleader. She was making excellent grades and had a lot of friends. She blushed cutely when she told Jake that she had been on a date almost every weekend since she turned sixteen.
"I like dating and some of the guys are really cute. Kissing and fooling around a little is even fun. But, Jake, none of them make me want to scream the way just being near you does. Faith Phillips says that it's the same way for her. She told me that she gets off better with her fingers thinking about you doing her than she ever has with another guy," Nina said.
"Maybe it's because I gave you your first real kiss. It could be that I can't even match what your expectations are," Jake suggested.
Nina scooted over next to him and took his head in her hands.
"Let's find out," she whispered, as her lips descended on his.
Nina, her tender quim already damp with anticipation, started gushing when Jake's tongue slipped between her lips to duel with hers. Her arms went around his neck and she pressed herself closer against him. When he broke the kiss, she was almost breathless.
"Oh yeah, that's what a kiss is supposed to feel like," she gasped.
Jake could only agree, Nina could kiss as well as her sister Claudia. She must have left some massive hard-ons bobbing in her dating wake. Jake reattached his lips to hers and cupped one of her breasts. Nina moaned into his mouth and pulled her shoulder back to give him room to explore. Nina's breasts were surprisingly firm and full in his hand. Jake broke the kiss, stood up, and picked Nina up in his arms. She clung to his neck with her head on his shoulder as he carried her to the bedroom. This, she thought, was so perfect she was going to start crying.
Jake laid her gently in the center of the bed and climbed up beside her. Her lips were hungry as he clamped his mouth over hers. He broke the kiss only to pull her sweater over her head and get rid of her bra. Jake marveled at her breasts, perfecto mongo, they were outstanding. They were the size of large oranges and close together; dense, they stood out proudly from her chest even while she was lying on her back. They were creamy white and flawless, with little pink number two pencil eraser nipples, centered on quarter-sized darker areolas. Those little pink nipples were incredibly hard right now; so turgid they were puckering the skin of her areolas.
Jake bent over, licked her left nipple, and then blew on it. Nina groaned and fell back on the bed.
"Stop torturing me, Jake, and get me naked. I've waited for you for three years; I don't want to wait another minute."
Jake chuckled. "Yes, Ma'am," he said as he unsnapped and unzipped her skirt.
He slid her skirt off and flipped it over the bedpost before turning his attention to her panties. Her panties were small and pink with a little bow at the waistband. Jake dragged them down her legs and off her feet. Nina propped herself up on her elbows pensively biting her lip as she waited for his reaction. Jake rose up on his knees so he could take her all in. She was the total package, that was a certainty. Her strawberry blonde hair was medium long and framed a very pretty heart shaped face. Her eyes were a mix of green and blue, her nose small and upturned slightly, and her mouth small and pouty. Her breasts stood up perkily above her concave abdomen, her hips flared pronouncedly then tapered down to smooth, shapely legs. She had probably the best proportioned body he had ever seen.
"You like?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, you could be an artist's model," he answered.
"I'm glad, I was worried that you would think I was too short and fat."
Jake laughed at that; true, she was not very tall at five-four, but she could not weigh much more than a hundred pounds. Jake slid off the bed and quickly stripped. Nina's eyes were huge as she saw his dick for the first time.
"That is a monster that is never going to fit in me," she said. "But let's give it a good shot."
Jake crawled onto the bed and took her in his arms again. Her kisses were hot and demanding as his hands roamed her body. Jake kissed his way down her body and spent plenty of time on her breasts. Nina's nipples were not super sensitive but she liked it when he nipped the base with his teeth. Jake reached nirvana when his questing lips arrived at her little mound. What little hair she had was reddish and barely framed her slit. She was so wet her juices glistening on the inside of her thighs. When Jake carefully peeled back her outer lips, he confirmed she was a Buckley; her clit was large and prominent and already out of its hood.
Jake licked all around her button until she was squirming. He relented and touched it with his tongue when she painfully tugging his head towards it by his ears. He got in maybe three licks before she came explosively. Her hips snapped upwards, she wailed like a banshee, and soaked his face with a stream of her fluid. Holy shit, Jake thought, as he grabbed her hands that were in the process of ripping his ears off. She was as loud and rough as Tigger, plus she squirted more than her sister Claudia.
Jake worked her through two more rip roaring orgasms both as wet and noisy as the first. He crawled up her body and settled between her thighs as she was still shaking from the last one. Nina loosened the death grip she had on the bedspread and threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Jesus, put that thing in me; I don't care if it splits me in two," she gasped.
"That's the plan, sweetheart," he said. "Do I need to use a rubber?"
Nina shook her head; "Doctor Pritchett put me on the pill right after my birthday."
Jake smiled at that declaration. Good old Doc Pritchett comes though again. Jake wet the head of his dick in some of the quart of nectar she had ejected and set it at her entrance.
"This is going to hurt, Nina, but it's the only way to do this," he said.
Nina nodded her understanding so Jake slid forward until his dick hit her membrane. He was barely in her when he felt it. Jake pushed forward steadily and the stubborn maidenhead stretched a bit, then finally gave up. Nina yelped when he plowed through it.
"Son-of-a-bitch; that hurt!" she exclaimed.
Jake snorted in laughter, it was the first curse word he had ever heard her utter. She sounded just like Sean, her hot tempered father, when she said it. It was almost two minutes before she gave him the go-ahead to push in farther. Her eyes widened again when he finally sank all the way into her. Jake asked her if she was ok. She said now she knew what her father meant when he complained about being stuffed like a Christmas Goose. Jake started a slow steady stroke and Nina's look of discomfort changed to one of awe.
"This feels incredible, Jake; I can feel you opening me up, and your dick is rubbing on my clit. Push harder and go faster," she urged.
Jake did as she wished, thankful that he was going to be able to discharge the load he had been holding back. He sped up his thrusts and ground his pubis into hers at the bottom of his stroke. Nina was by now matching his movements and starting to get noisy again. When she came, she screamed her pleasure for the world to hear and locked her arms and legs around him. Jake hit two more strokes and came himself. When she felt him pulsing inside her she squeezed down on his dick as another orgasm hit her.
Jake kissed her tenderly as they lay joined at the hip and basked in the afterglow. They lay there a few minutes until Jake's softened prick shipped out of her. He got up and went to the bathroom where he wet a hand towel. He wiped the frothy pink mixture of their juices and her blood off his dick then came back and gently cleaned her up. Nina had moved while he was gone. He knew why when he saw the size of the wet spot she left on the bedspread. Jake finished cleaning her up then put her under the covers while he stripped off the soaked spread. Jake slipped under the covers with her and she rolled against his side with her chin on his chest.
"What now, Jake?" she asked.
"Well, as soon as I recuperate, I want you again," he replied.
"No, I mean what about after we leave here today. Is this just a one time thing or will we get together again."
"I would be very disappointed if you only wanted to be with me this once. But if we continue seeing each other, Melissa will have to be involved."
Nina shivered and smiled hugely.
"That would be no problem at all, Jake, no problem at all. Faith showed me how much fun girls can be and I get tingles when Melissa looks at me. Being with either or both of you would be heavenly."
"I want you to still date though, Nina; you need to see what else is out there. Who knows, you might find that, now that you have tried it, every guy you date will ring your bell."
"I will," she said. "But I don't see anyone but you getting this little girl in the bed. Now what can I do to get Big Daddy down there back in action?"
Jake showed her. Nina was not only the most passionate of the Buckley women, she was also the one most willing to experiment. She went down on Jake without a second's hesitation.
"I am so bad," she giggled. "The first penis I ever touched I put in my mouth."
Nina sucked dick with élan and verve; she was a fast learner and required little in the way of instruction. When Jake's manhood was at full staff, Nina rolled onto her back and tried to pull Jake on top of her.
"Having you in my mouth made me so hot, Jake. I want that big beautiful thing back where it belongs."
"You get on top this time. I want to look at your beautiful face and play with you while you do all the work."
That sounded like a good idea to Nina. She nimbly straddled his waist. Jake held his shaft upright as she opened herself up and slowly slid down him. She paused when she was fully seated to reacclimatize her tight little twat to his girth. As soon as she was comfortable, Jake showed her the different ways she could move. Nina went nuts when she discovered that she could lean forward with her hands on either side of him and grind her clit against the base of his dick. Jake made it even better when he scraped her nipples with his teeth. She came so much she ended up light headed. Jake gently helped her off him and put her on her back. He positioned himself between her strong young thighs again and slipped into her. Once he was fully seated, he lifted her legs and pounded it to her.
Nina was in heaven; the pain of her deflowering was a distant memory as she met him thrust for counter-thrust. Jake did not try to muffle her load screams when she came. He figured her patience had earned her the right to get the maximum enjoyment out of her pleasure. When he filled her hot little box with a second load, she quickly dove her mouth onto his shaft and cleaned him off. She loved having him in her mouth and but her real objective was to get him hard again.
Two sessions and two showers later, Jake showed a finally tired, sore, but happy camper out the door. She looked as angelic as she had on arrival. Her careful stride was the only indication of how she had spent the day. They made a date for the following Saturday. Melissa was going to join them, an idea that had Nina already starting to lubricate.
Jake worked hard on his fitness during the off season, running and lifting weights. His sister Debbie worked up a training regime for him using the latest innovations developed by the United States Olympic Team's trainers. Jake figured that was about right, he had started with Debbie being his pupil. Now she was taking charge of not only his workouts but his diet as well. The exercising he enjoyed, the nutritional stuff he balked at. Debbie went to Trish, Trish conspired with Melissa, and soon there was not an ort of enjoyable food in the house. Jake might as well go out and graze with the cows for all the pleasure mealtime brought him. Worse yet, Trish and Melissa swore Senora Lopez and Tanya Nobles to the plan, "It's for his own good" was their mantra.
Jake enjoyed the hell out of his son's company. He took the baby everywhere with him. Actually, he took any of the kids that were around with him if they wanted to go. If it was a school day, Jake drove the station wagon down to the end of the drive and he and his son waited for the school bus. He would load up Anita Diaz and the three Noble's children and head out to the Seven-Eleven for slurpees. Melissa said that Jake got along so well with kids because he was just an over-grown kid himself, but she said it with pride. The delight that her husband took with children swelled her heart and made her love him even more, if that were possible.
Jake also enjoyed working around the ranch. If Quincy or Ramon needed help, Jake pitched in. Jake was not above playing hooky with one or the other of them to go fishing either. Quincy had a small johnboat with a ten horsepower outboard they used, but it barely held two people. Jake went to a boat dealer in Deland and bought a nice bass boat. He then bought a big seventy-five horsepower motor and had the boat fitted out with everything needed to do some serious fishing or water skiing. He told Quincy that the boat belonged to the ranch and Quincy should take care of it. Of course, he added, as ranch property anytime Quincy or anyone else wanted to use it they could. Melissa took one look at the boat and kissed Jake so hard his lips were numbed. Painted prominently on both sides toward the stern in black and gold script was the boat's name: 'Sweet Melissa'.
Leslie moved up to a high school curriculum for her home schooling. Her tutors were surprised and delighted at her rapid advancement. Leslie was still taking piano and voice lessons. She had advanced to the point that members of the faculty of Stetson University taught her.
Time passed in the inexorable manner that was its want. Thanksgiving came and went. This year Leslie and Jake again worked at the homeless shelter, with Quincy and Tanya there as volunteers instead of clients. At the ranch, Melissa and Trish served up real turkey, thank God; Jake had half expect tofu.
Then the Christmas season hit. Jake was around for the planning and preparation for the children's party for a change. Mo Turner and his family came down for Christmas again, a yearly visit that became a tradition. Mo swore the only reason they were invited was so Jake could make him wear an elf costume.
Mo was a platoon leader in the Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning. Because of the politics of the times, his natural abilities were augmented by his race to put him on the fast track. The Army was pretty much color blind, but in the mid-seventies, the press had made an issue of the small percent of the officer's corps that was black. The Army closely monitored the careers of young black officers, shepherding them along to help cure the skewed demographic.
The children's Christmas parties were a huge event by now and a massive undertaking. It took five sessions over two and a half days to fit in the twenty-five hundred or so kids. Jake insisted that every child referred by a charity or social service agency be fit in. When the new comptroller for TnT Holdings mentioned the cost to Mitzi, pointing out that not much of it could be written off, he got his ass handed to him.
"If the Turner's generosity bothers you after our Christmas Party, come see me," Mitzi told him stonily and ominously.
The employees' Christmas party had grown with the company's success. More than two hundred people were at the ranch for the event. Even though the economy as a whole was slumping, TnT had had a banner year. Bonus checks with many zeros were passed out at the event. The comptroller tucked his bonus check into his pocket and never mentioned money spent on charitable causes again.
Yes, it was a great few months marred only by the start of one of the darkest times real men ever suffered through. The painful memories of endless agony were buried deeply in Jake's subconscious from his first lifetime. The old wounds that had been so scarred over were opened with surgical precision one day in early November when he returned home at dusk from a day of fishing with Quincy. He opened the front door and almost fell cowering to the floor when he heard Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby blaring at warp nine from the stereo and saw Leslie and Trish teaching Melissa to dance, Disco style. Disco! No, God, please, anything but that, he prayed.
Melissa looked up and spotted him before he could sneak back out the door.
"Honey," she yelled over the blasting bass beat, "Isn't this just the greatest? And Leslie said you and I could actually take lessons so we can dance as a couple."
Jake plastered a smile on his face and nodded brightly. He looked over Melissa's shoulder as Leslie waggled her tongue at him, traitorous little strumpet that she was. Then he held his hand up to his ear signifying that he had to make a phone call and beat a hasty retreat to his office. Jake rated disco right up there with root canal dentistry and here he was being caught up in it a full two years earlier than in his last life. He sat at his desk plotting deviously cruel paybacks for Trish and Leslie. Nothing was off limits now, he figured, because nothing he could devise short of physical torture was as evil as making him disco.
At the corporate Christmas Party and at Maria's New Year's Eve party Jake did penance for past sins on the dance floor, glumly strutting his stuff. It was cruel beyond words the way his women insisted he dance nearly every song with one or the other of them. Jake figured the three-thousand year long line of O'Buckleys was groaning in mortification at the uncoordinated antics of their latest successor. His spasmodic attempts at keeping the beat and remembering the steps sent Leslie into paroxysms of laughter.
"Jake Turner," she said, "you are the lamest white boy who ever lived."
The only bright spot of the sordid Disco debacle was that Leslie's career as a recording artist started. At first in a rented studio in Daytona, then in a custom built facility at the ranch, Leslie cut a succession of hit albums of all genres. From pop to country to rock and roll, Leslie cranked them out. She did not tour or make guest appearances; she just made music that Sven Johansson skillfully marketed on the newly formed TnT Records label. Leslie, with her excellent memory, reprised some as-yet unsung songs from the future and co-opted them as her own. By keeping Leslie out of the spotlight, Sven actually increased her cachet. She was an angel voiced mystery; her picture was not even on her album covers.
Jake's duty with his Guard unit brought him a lot of joy. He was the platoon leader of the scout platoon now. The changes he had worked up for his squad he now implemented for the entire platoon. Jake's leadership ability was not lost on the military establishment, especially now that he had come to the attention of General Pulaski. It was much easier now for him to requisition equipment and supplies. Jake insisted on his unit being as disciplined and professional as their active duty counterparts. If you were looking for a free ride, the Scout Platoon, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 94th Infantry (Mechanized) was not for you.
In Chicago, life for Alfred and Michelle Tremont was even better than it was for the Turners. Alfred continued to make obscene amounts of money in the commodities market and judiciously spent some of it currying political favor. He and Michelle also spent plenty of dough living a most lavish lifestyle. Alfred's strange amalgamation of male and female persona showed itself especially in the lifestyle department. Alfred insisted that he and Michelle only wear the finest designer clothes, their house was professionally decorated down to the smallest detail, and they threw lavish parties that were oh, so Tony. Yet, they had the reputation as being the most parsimonious people in Chicago, Alfred was known to make a scene over a quarter.
The strange sexual goings-on at their country estate were never mentioned. Alfred's penchant for young boys and girls grew along with his cruel streak. Alfred saw nothing wrong with subjugating people; hell, he figured it was his right -- and they should be happy to serve him. After all, he was like a God among them, immortal and able to see into the future.
Alfred had followed through on his plan to seek out others like him. He had found two so far: one in a sanitarium in Wisconsin and another living life as a gambler right there in Chicago. Both men ended up in one of the special sound-proofed rooms in the Tremont's basement, lured there by Michelle.
It took Alfred a month with the men to torture from them all the information they remembered about the future. When he was convinced he knew all they knew, Alfred personally killed them and dispensed with their bodies. It was the right thing to do, Alfred knew, because there could only be one God and neither of them held promise as a disciple. The gambler especially provided Alfred with useful information; the guy had been a sports fanatic in his last life and knew almost down the line the outcome of major sporting events. The other man was not as useful but did help Alfred fill in some gaps about world events and the politics of the eighties and nineties.
Further reflection and a look at the available stock of bodies to
recycle into caused Alfred to decide that he was better off going it
alone on his trips back. It was probably for the better anyway, he
decided. After all, it was ridiculously easy for him to amass money,
buy power, and bend people to his will as it was. Imagine what child's
play it would be on the next cycle through. He would simply stay the
course and eliminate any others he found like himself until the time
was right to jump back again. He already had half a plan formulated for
his take-over. Religion, of course, would be his tool. He would be the
new Messiah, resurrected from the dead to take his rightful place as
ruler of the world His hypermnesia would allow him to make predictions
about the future that would give him instant credibility. Towards that
end Alfred spent an hour a day memorizing dates, facts, and events.