The Shepherd of Ashburn Court Pt. 02

Both women looked at each other across Ben. At first their expressions were a little hurt and defensive but soon a twinkle appeared in their eyes and they smiled.

Then the smiles turned mischievous.

They leaned in over his body and nibbled on his earlobes as they pressed themselves over his chest and shoulders.

Ben groaned and struggled to get free to no avail. Gabriella leaned her face over his and gave him a deep aggressive kiss which he returned. As she pulled back and Ben tried to catch his breath Catherine swooped in and claimed a kiss of her own. Once they were done they looked down at Ben's lap and raised their eyebrows at the impressive ridge pressing against his pants.

Gabriella looked at the clock and saw they had 30 minutes as long as no one arrived early. Simultaneously the two women placed their hands over the bulge and Ben's breath whooshed out of him.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Hang on!" he gasped breathily as he renewed his efforts to break loose.

The doorbell rang. Gabriella and Catherine both moaned in frustration and leaned back. Ben surged to his feet and turned away from them to rearrange his erection as it was getting pinched. He turned back to them. "I'll get the door." He staggered out of the room.

When he opened the door he was still riding the high of the two lady's kisses so he wasn't at his sharpest. Standing in the doorway was Hannah and Beth Wilson. Both were startled to see him and then both were looking far too low to see his face. He looked down as well and realized he was still quite visible against his pants. His face flushed and he moved back to allow Hannah to pulled Beth into the foyer. Hannah looked at Ben's face and shook her head. She took her coat off and then helped Beth takes hers off.

It was then that Ben's brain caught up to him and he really saw Beth. The last time he'd seen her was a month or two before the accident. She'd been a solid woman, maybe just a little overweight but happy and vibrant. The woman standing before him was almost a shadow of that other Beth. She'd lost too much weight. Her lively eyes were bruised and sad. Ben looked in shock at Hannah and she nodded. Her expression showed her concern.

"Beth?" he said

"Hi Ben." Beth replied weakly.

Ben couldn't help himself. He gathered the woman against him in a full body hug. "Oh Beth!"

She went still in his arms then her arms slowly encircled him and she rested her cheek against his chest and began to cry. He rocked her gently in his arms and she let it out. He made soothing noises and kissed the top of her head. Hannah reached up and carefully rubbed his mouth with her handkerchief to remove the mess of lipstick on his face. He thanked her silently and she just nodded at him.

Gabriella and Catherine arrived, having fixed their lipstick, and saw Ben holding a shrunken version of Beth. Their eyes went wide and they both looked questioningly at Hannah who just shook her head to indicate it wasn't the time.

When Beth's tears slowed Ben put his arm over her shoulders and led her into the living room. He sat on the couch and sat her down next to him nestled up against his side. Hannah smiled from the doorway as she saw Beth's eyes straying to the front of Ben's pants which hadn't completely settled down yet. She looked up at Hannah and just a hint of that liveliness showed in her eyes. Hannah's smile burst into a full grin and Beth gave her a small smile back then rested her head against Ben.

The doorbell rang again and the others began to arrive. Soon the large living room was filled with conversation and energy. All of the women stopped by to speak with Beth and Ben. Beth was surprised to hear Ben had been in the hospital. Tina, who had brought her son, was only too happy to retell the story of Ben's heroic actions to protect her and Christopher and the price he'd paid. While Ben squirmed hearing her praise he was relieved to hear that the driver had been arrested and Tina's mother-in-law had fled the country back to Korea empty handed. She gave her son a kiss on his head and looked at Ben with gratitude.

As Catherine was hosting she stood up and got everyone's attention.

"Hello everyone. Thank you for coming. We thought it would be helpful to everyone if we could get together and share how we are all dealing with our new situations. Kind of a status update, so we can potentially help each other in any way we can. I know most of us are familiar with each other but I've found the following process is very good at opening up discussion. I will start."

Catherine took a deep breath and looked around the room making sure she had everyone's attention.

"Hello. My name is Catherine McGovern or 'Cat' for short. Yes, I've gone back to my maiden name. I'm the CEO of Kids-2-Kids, a non-profit organization helping underprivileged students get access to better educational support tools and tutoring for free. I have three daughters: Sophia, age 20, Rachel, age 19, and Megan, age 18. Sophia and Rachel are currently attending University and have also chosen to change their name to McGovern. Megan is completing High school this year and is struggling with the decision to retain her father's surname or not. I'm not pressuring her either way and have told her the decision is hers. At the time of the accident I was preparing to file for divorce. Our marriage was an empty, loveless shell and I could no longer remain in it. I wasn't aware of my husband's extra marital affairs. If I had I would have divorced him years ago."

She looked around again and saw some of the women were shocked by how much she'd divulged. "You do not need to say anything more than what you are comfortable sharing. The point of this exercise is to help us communicate with each other, to help us understand each other. And perhaps to help us help each other. Please know you are among friends here."

Gabriella took the floor next.

"My name is Gabriella Wallace. I have my own business importing fashion accessories for distributors. I have a daughter Megan who just turned 16 and a son Daniel who is 12. I was aware of Cat's marriage issues and knew of her brave decision to end her marriage. I was not as brave. While I wasn't aware Daniel was having these flings our marriage had become cold and loveless. I was no longer happy, hadn't been for years but I wasn't strong enough to believe I could set off on my own at my age. Now that the decision was made for me I'm looking at other ways to improve my life. Thank you."

Rochelle stood up next. She looked sad. "I'm Rochelle King. The first thing I want to say is that my man Devon was a serial cheater. He couldn't keep it in his pants if a pretty tail offered him a ride. I still loved him and each time I caught him he'd promise not to do it again and each time I would forgive him. And each time I'd lose a little more self-respect. I still love the man so I guess that says something about me. I'm now CEO of the restaurant chain and we're doing better than ever... probably because so much of our profits aren't going into payouts to the whores who fucked him. My daughter Sara, who is 20 is now our CFO, taking my old position and she is doing an awesome job. My son Jayden is 17 and I'm afraid he is going to be just like his father. I've seen it already. He's not as smooth as his father but that's just practice." She shook her head and sat down.

"Hanna Cooper. Hospital Administrator of Western Mercy. I wasn't aware that Andrew was cheating. He was a gynecologist and used to tell me that he looked into too many to consider finding another. I know. It was a tasteless joke. It was obviously also a lie. I discovered a lot of my marriage was built on lies. When I found out I didn't take it well and lashed out at others, Gabriella and Catherine mostly, and for that I am truly sorry."

She smiled at the two friends then continued. "I'm working through my anger and my fear of betrayal issues. I found a sympathetic ear in Ben while he was recently having a prolonged visit at our hospital. Having a captive audience was quite helpful. These talks really helped me. I hope to continue." Ben nodded and she smiled back at him as she sat down.

"I am Tina Lee and this is my son Christopher and he is not yet one year old. I do not work and I think my husband's investments are not good. I received a letter from the bank today." She looked towards Ben. "It is something about our mortgage. I do not know what I am to do. I am hoping that someone here knows what I should do."

Ben raised his hand and saw Tina's hopeful look turn into a relieved smile. "I'll take a look at it after the meeting, alright?"

"Thank you, Mr. Shepherd!" she said.

"Ben." he replied.

Her smile lit up her face again. "Ben." she said and nodded to him.

The next woman in line stood up. Her strawberry blond hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she looked nervously around the room. "Hi. Daphne McKellen. My twin girls are 22 and are finishing up University this year. They are studying Early Childhood Care & Education and once they graduate we plan to open up a daycare in my home. I've arranged all the permits and I'll have contractors coming in to make the required upgrades to make it a legal daycare. We're only going to be allowing twenty children in the centre, ages 6 months to 6 years. With Scott gone and my girls away at University the house is too quiet. I'm looking forward to hearing the sound of children again." She smiled at Tina. "As for Scott, I knew he was a terrible flirt." Her face closed down. "No, the truth. He had affair once. It was a bad time for our marriage. Christmas parties at the bank headquarters were terrible. He'd get drunk and start acting like he owned the women who worked for him. Ten years ago I found out he was fucking a loans manager. I confronted him about it and he finally broke it off. We weren't the same after that but I never saw any evidence that he'd relapsed. He just got better at hiding it I suppose. Fuck him. I'm making a new, better life for myself now!" She smiled at the group and got applause. She sat down with a huge grin and tears in her eyes.

Next in line was a very slim woman, 5' 9", whose obsession with jogging had burned off most of her body fat. She was all toned muscle and sinews which made her obviously fake breasts so out proportioned. She did her best to hide them with a loose sweater. She had short red hair to mid neck and a friendly heart shaped face with large pale green eyes and a strong hawk nose. She smiled tremulously at the group. "I'm Trish Campbell. I live next door to Daphne and I was looking forward to the sound of children in the neighborhood as well but... I may not be able to stay in the neighborhood to hear it." She looked over at Hannah who gave her a supportive smile and nod. Trish returned the smile and collected herself.

"John had addictions. Not drugs or alcohol but adrenaline and gambling. Motocross racing, hang gliding, white water kayaking, sky diving, and jet-ski racing. We led a very active life. He also gambled heavily. He did his best to hide it but when bills went unpaid because he'd blown his paycheque on poker with his buddies at work it came to light. He owned his own marketing company but that just went bankrupt because he was spending all of the money it made on his gambling addiction. He stopped paying into the life insurance policy so there was no money when he died in the accident. He had no pension and our mortgage is only half paid off. I have my own design company which I run out of my home office. I'm doing very well but not well enough to pay off all of John's debts. I've had a few frightening calls from someone named Angelo who John owes money to. I'm going to have to sell the house." Several voices were raised in concerned protest. "I have no other choice."

"I'll buy it." Ben said.

Trish looked over at him. "What?"

"I'll buy your house. You get it appraised and let me know how much it is. You can continue to live in it and pay rent at a rate less than your mortgage. You can use the money from the sale to pay off the debts."

Hannah leaned forward. "Ben, we talked about this." Trish looked at her friend in surprise.

Ben continued. "No, this isn't about that. This is a great investment for me! You know the properties on this street are! And we get to keep Trish as a neighbor. Her son Mason and your son Ryan are best friends so splitting them up would be a shame. They already lost their friends Bill and Kevin Miller when they moved out."

Trish was looking at Ben like a lifeline had just been thrown to her and when Ben saw that he winced. Hannah groaned as she saw the cycle starting again. Ben's need to help a damsel in distress overpowering his deep seated aversion to praise. She caught the puzzled eye of her friend Trish and mouthed 'Later' to her. Trish nodded and sat down.

The woman seated on the chair next to Ben's couch stood up. "My name is Joanne White. My husband Michael and I came to an arrangement years ago that he would have his affairs and I would have mine as long as we didn't allow any discord into our home. We had my daughter Lily twenty years ago and I'm proud to say she is a beautiful, intelligent, and well-adjusted young lady. I'm moving to Florida to look after my ailing parents and to spend the rest of my life with the wonderful and faithful man that has been waiting for me to leave Michael." She turned to Ben. "If you are interested I'm going to be putting my home on the market as well. My daughter has two more years of college and it would be wonderful if she could rent out her room in the house until she graduates."

"Joanne!" Hannah barked.

"No, that's fine. Yes, I'm interested." Ben said.

Trish looked upset and Ben caught the look. "That doesn't affect my offer to you in any way."

That statement caused all of the women to look at Ben curiously. Hannah was worried his white knight compulsion was driving him beyond his means. "Ben that's going to be a lot of money. You know what the current values are for these homes."

He just looked at her calmly. "Yes, I know what they're worth. It's not a problem."

Daphne was trying to figure Ben out. His home was the smallest, most modest on the street as his property was smaller probably because of the public lane to the nature reserve. He drove a domestic SUV and had none of the toys their husbands had shown off. She didn't even know what work he did or if he had a job at all. She couldn't help herself from asking the question on everyone's mind. "Just how rich are you Mr. Shepherd?"

Ben felt uncomfortable under their eyes and looked at Hannah. She had her eyebrow raised waiting for an answer too. Still, he wasn't about to give out the number.

"I live very comfortably and I'm very careful with my money. I can certainly afford to purchase a few homes from this neighborhood which are essentially investments that can be resold later for a profit. I will say that I won't need to go into any debt to do it. Is that good enough?" he said looking back at Daphne. She nodded while the concepts of 'purchasing a few million dollar homes' and 'no debt' floated in her mind. She looked at Hannah who was obviously also thinking along the same lines.

Beth sunk into the couch against Ben as everyone looked to her, the last woman to speak. The only victim whose husband didn't perish in the crash. She felt a tremendous guilt for that fact like somehow she hadn't suffered as much as them. But her physical condition obviously disproved that. She looked up at Ben and he smiled down at her. She struggled forward on the couch and he helped her up. Only once she was on her feet and looking back at him did he realize he was bracing her with his hand on her ass. He blushed and smiled guiltily at her. She smiled back with a little spark in her eyes. She wiggled her hips and his blush ramped up. Hannah watched this with tears in her eyes and a grin on her face.

"I'm Beth Wilson. My ex-husband wasn't on the plane and is now in jail." There was some confused noises from the group so she explained. "He was carrying his work satchel which was loaded with a large quantity of very powerful medications so he was arrested for trafficking." That seemed to settle the questions. She began again. "I don't know what went wrong in our marriage, what I could or should have done to prevent Larry from straying." There was a rumble of voices telling Beth she wasn't responsible for the actions of her husband. She looked over at Hannah who smiled at her friend. "Hannah has been a tremendous help for me. She's drawing me out of my depression. I was in so deep I couldn't even see the damage I was doing to my children. We're all getting better now. Talking with you all really does feel like it's helping." She turned to the host. "Thank you Catherine and Gabriella for making this happen!" She took her place next to Ben who gave her a hug which she snuggled into with a smile on her face.

There was a round of applause from the group. Cat looked at Gabriella and took her hand. They both stood up. "It should be known that while Gabriella made the calls and I'm hosting, the driving force behind this meeting is Ben. His concern for the well-being of his neighbors is above and beyond." She and Gabriella both started the applause for Ben who tried his best to smile but was actually squirming badly and looked like he might bolt. Hannah saw his unease and walked over to their hosts and asked loudly to 'help them with lunch in the kitchen'. Rochelle caught the tone and followed the three ladies out. As they left the others went back to the animated conversations they'd been having before the round table introductions. Hannah saw Ben begin to relax once more.

Once in the kitchen she spoke to her hosts and Rochelle. "Just to let you know, Ben is really uncomfortable with praise. I don't know how he got that way and I'm not going to divulge anything he's said to me in confidence during our talks but please be aware that Ben does what he does without expectation of reward and when he is rewarded it makes him upset. We almost made Ben leave just now. He's a genuine and good man but sometimes he acts a little too selflessly." Gabriella and Cat looked at each other in dismay. Rochelle looked thoughtful.

They opened the trays of sandwiches and salads catered from Rochelle's restaurant and carried them out to the sideboard in the dining room. The room was otherwise ready for the meal. Catherine went into the living room and invited her guests to the table. They filled their plates and took their seats.

Hannah saw Ben was being led to the head of the table so she gently suggested that as host Catherine should sit there and allow Ben to take the next seat on the side. Ben looked gratefully at Hannah and she smiled. Beth stuck close to Ben and took the seat on his other side. Hannah sat next to Beth and Trish took the next chair. Joanne sat at the end of the table with Daphne on her right then Tina, Rochelle and finally Gabriella sitting across from Ben.

Before they began Rochelle spoke up. "If everyone wouldn't mind I'd like to say a little prayer. I promise it won't be a sermon or preachy. I'd just like to give thanks." There were pleased smiles and nods so they all joined hands around the table.

"Thank you Lord for bringing us all here today before this bounty. Thank you for giving us the strength to share our stories with each other. Thank you for showing us we can be complete and worthy individuals standing on our own and for giving us the wisdom to know when it's ok to rely on the support of our friends. Thank you especially for these wonderful women (and Ben), for the love and compassion they have shown and the strength we all share from that. Amen."

The smiles were especially wide and Beth had tears in her eyes as she smiled at Rochelle.