Brotherhood of Janus Ch. 02: Grand Gather

Copyright © 2016 - 2019 - This is an original work by Zeb Carter and is protected under copyright by U.S. copyright law. It is only submitted at Literotica.Com and any submission to any other site has not been authorized by the Author.

Author's Note: This is a very long story and is the second in a series. There will be one more or maybe three more if I finish the last two. This installment is almost 62,000+ words long, that's 17 pages. Please Enjoy.

My mouth hung open in astonishment, as the gentleman across the table from me explained my inheritance. I knew my father had died, some years ago. What I didn't expect was anything from his estate. I knew he was wealthy, but I wanted nothing from him. For the past thirty years, I had been on my own with no contact, with him or the rest of my family for that matter. My children were grown and on their own, with children of their own. I do adore my grandchildren and would do anything in the world for them and saw them as often as I could.

As I listened to the lawyer, who had tracked me down, wonder at what he told me filled my mind. I wasn't to inherit my father's company or his investments. I was to inherit his membership in the Brotherhood of Janus, whatever the hell that was. That along with substantial amounts of cash, to allow me to do things to better my life, as the lawyer put it, hefting a box onto the tabletop.

"In here is all you will need to know about the Brotherhood. No, don't ask me any questions, I don't belong and am not privy to what or who they are. At the time of your father's death, his wife and several members of the Brotherhood sealed this, so I could deliver it to you unopened.

"You will find the numbers to the accounts and the amounts of each that are now yours in this," he said to me handing an envelope to me.

I opened the envelope and took out the papers inside. As I unfolded the papers, another envelope dropped out. It was the size of a credit card and when I looked inside there were five debit cards. Looking at the paper I had unfolded, surprise was the only word I could use when I saw the amounts listed for six accounts. My heart was racing as I stared at the numbers typed on the page.

"This is also yours," the lawyer said handing me a metal briefcase. "It contains enough cash to get you through the next month or so. You will have to visit each of those banks to activate the cards. You will need proof of who you are... well, the papers explain everything.

"This is all that I know and all I can tell you about this transaction. Your brother turned all this down. The order of inheritance is through the eldest son, but we couldn't find you until recently. Offering your brother the membership in your stead is an alternative, he flatly refused and we were lucky enough to hear of an email to your cousin through which we tracked you down.

"Our business is now concluded, sir. Good luck to you."

"Ah... thank you, I think," I said stunned.

The lawyer, I never even got his name, although he did leave me his card, left. I sat there looking around the small room of a restaurant in which this meeting took place. I shook my head to clear my mind. Taking a deep breath, I gathered up the cards and papers, opened the briefcase and stuffed them in a pocket in the top. I sat for just a second as I marveled at the cash that filled the case. Slamming it closed I locked it, making sure it would not open accidentally.

A waiter appeared offering to carry the box out for me. I nodded my assent and followed him out of the restaurant to my car. I open the trunk and he placed the heavy cardboard box in closing the trunk lid. As he turned to go, I told him thank you and went to hand him a five for helping. He shook his head no.

"The gentleman you were with took care of that sir. Thank you anyway," the waiter said as he turned and walked away.

I drove home in a daze. When I got there, my wife was out, so I sat at the kitchen table and opened the box. On the very top of the papers, there had to be a couple of hundred file folders, there was a single booklet. It was about 50 pages, typed and bound. The title page inside the cover had printed across the middle, "Brotherhood of Janus - Bylaws, and rules of Membership". There was a preface.

George J. Hood and Hyraim Janus founded the Brotherhood of Janus in 1865. The founding of the Brotherhood was for the advancement of members and their families. The Brotherhood required members to help other members in the areas of business and conservation of family fortunes. That was the primary reason for the formation of the Brotherhood. Only, later - 1920 - did the gifting of pleasure to each other in a monthly celebration come to be an additional aspect of the group. Although in the archives, there was mention of grand meetings of the Brotherhood council and once business concluded, refreshments and entertainment, provided by the member's wives, began.

Membership was either inherited or bestowed. Although there were instances, were short-term memberships were given for payment for the good of the Brotherhood. The first five hundred members were founding members. Even though the member currently holding one of the first five hundred memberships was only a descendant of the first member, they were always to be revered as one of the five hundred.

Looking at the number in the lower right-hand corner of the booklet I read my membership number. Zero-zero-two-nine-three, I was a Five Hundred.

I read and reread the booklet. I read every scrap of paper in the box over the next month as I flew to Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, Birmingham, and Miami to activate the check cards. For the sixth account, I just had to notify them that I was accepting the membership. That account held the projected dues for the membership for the next twenty-five years.

By the time, I returned home, I was conversant in the bylaws and rules of the Brotherhood and knew there would be a problem when I explained them to my wife, Jenny. Especially rule one-twenty-one. That rule said that the wife had to participate as a member of the Brotherhood in all aspects. This was the rule about Gatherings. It was long, involved, and never mentioned sex specifically.

I knew it meant divorce would be inevitable, so I had papers drawn up while I was out of town. When I returned, I explained the Brotherhood in as plain a language as I could. As I explained the purpose of the Brotherhood to her, she perked up at the mention of us now being financially independent. At the point of explaining the regional lodge's monthly meeting, she just shut down.

"So will you support me in this?" I asked her.

"What? You have to be kidding me. I'm sixty years old and I don't particularly like sex anymore, even with you. I love you, but I don't want to have sex with you. So why would I have sex with complete strangers in the setting you described?"

To tell what took two months to resolve as quickly as possible, we settled on divorce. I gave her one of the accounts. It had a substantial amount in it and we parted ways. It was a sad day, but the future appeared brighter, a little at least. I went about getting myself an apartment and started looking for some kind of business to invest in or buy. I also looked over the schedule of gatherings around the country and chose one to attend. It would be the first of many.

Chapter 1

A warm gentle hand on my thigh woke me. The buffeting of the plane, as it descended through the clouds hadn't, yet Barbara's soft, delicate, warm hand did. Smiling, I looked at her through bleary eyes and straighten up in my seat. The last three weekends have been exhausting. We had attended three gatherings, only one of which I was a participant. Barbara participated at two, yet she was as fresh as the day I picked her up at the airport in Dallas.

We had gone to gatherings in Dallas, Portland, and Boise, each of them having complaints filed by members or ex-members. As the new head of the Brotherhood Investigation Division, I am in the process of attending unannounced, with Barbara as my partner, gatherings of the local lodges who had complaints leveled against them. Out of the three so far, we found only one complaint founded. The Dallas lodge president and several council members were found to have bent the rules, when it suited them, but held everyone else to the stricter standard.

It took us the rest of that first week to clean up that mess. When we left, the members were thrilled with what we did for them. The Portland lodge, a little somber, their president having just passed away and they trying to decide on a new one, while in mourning. Spirits lifted when they realized a member of the Five Hundred honored them by attending their gathering, which also doubled as a funeral party for their deceased president.

Yes, I made a speech, as did Barbara in her capacity as Duchess. We stayed in Portland until Thursday so Barbara could ring the son of the president. He and his wife had to fly in from Hawaii so, they didn't make it for the gathering and his mother and a council member needed the extra day to get things together to pass on to them. We found a member made the complaint in error. He thought the president was not conforming to Brotherhood conventions. He withdrew the complaint when the president had a stroke, which hospitalized him.

In Boise, we found a disgruntled member suspended for a year for breaking the color rules at the last gathering, falsely filed the complaint. He got drunk the first night and tried to force a blue gown to have intercourse. Everyone was very friendly and felt honored a Five Hundred and the Duchess would grace their gathering.

As we exit the terminal, Susan and Mark met Barbara and me with a lodge limo. After shaking hands with Mark, Susan kisses me soundly, then slaps my face. Laughing at her, I just hold the door for her.

"Susan! Why did you do that?" shouted Barbara.

"He knows why," scolded Susan.

"Well, tell me then, so I might know," Barbara huffs, as she steps into the limo.

"You know why too, mother!" Susan said, climbing into the car after her.

"Ah, that? Do grow up my dear." I heard Barbara say, as I step in and closed the door behind me.

"She doesn't want us to..."

"Yes, I know what she doesn't want, but that's just too damn bad. I will do what I want, when I want, where I want, and no daughter of mine is going to stop me or the man I choose to do it with."

I chuckle to myself as Susan glares at me. Her mother laughs at her, then leans over her to kiss me hard on the lips.

"Mother, please, at least not in front of me," she cried.

"Fine, I will not... in front of you, but you lay off John, we are on council business."

"Yes mother," said Susan disgustedly.

Turning to me she gently kisses my cheek and snuggles up to me in the seat. Barbara just smiles. The rest of the ride to the lodge was made in silence. Pulling up to the door, Gerry was there to meet us. He grabs our bags and leads the way into the mansion.

"John, you will, of course, have the same room you did last time. Barbara, if you are staying, will have the room next to his."

"Thank you, Gerry," I said, with Susan hanging on my arm.

"I will be staying Gerry, we have a flight to catch the day after tomorrow," Barb said, to the disgust of her daughter.

"You do know that the Grand Gathering is the week after next?" Susan asked.

"We do darling, this next flight is to Atlanta for a Grand Council meeting," I said.

"Oh! Then please accept my apology."

"We do dear, we do," Barbara said softly, kissing her daughter's cheek.

Upstairs, Barbara and I both go to the president's office to type up our reports for the council meeting on Thursday. When we enter, George was furiously typing as he talks on the phone with someone and Henry was yelling into his phone while pacing back and forth. Mark immediately rushes to the other free desk and starts to type.

"Well, it looks like it's a little too busy in here for us," I said.

"It surely does."

"Sir, there is a terminal and a laptop in your bedroom," Gerry said.

"Thank you, Gerry. And it's John, remember?"

"Yes. Old habits die-hard," he said, laughing.

"Indeed they do," I replied, turning to the bedroom.

Once there, I gave Barb her choice of computers. She picked the laptop up off the table and sat on the divan, leaving me the desktop. Sitting I started to type. Susan stands, looking at us. Shortly, she leaves us to our own devices.

Chapter 2

The council meeting in Atlanta goes off without a hitch. All of the recommendations Barbara and I make were approved unanimously. Afterward, the president of the council inquires about the preparation for the grand gathering. Barbara tells him the gather plans were proceeding as planned and everything will be ready on time. We flew home, yes I had moved back to Chicago to be closer to my friends. Michelle was waiting for us at baggage claim. She kisses me gently and hugs Barbara, then leads us out to her car.

The drive to the mansion was nice, Michelle babbled about how hard George was working to get things ready for the gathering. Then we hear how Susan was still angry with her mother that we were together again. Barbara laughs at that tidbit of information.

"I'll talk to her when we get there, I promise," she said.

"Crap, did I say something I wasn't supposed to?" Michelle asked.

"No dear, this has been boiling under the surface for a long time. Susan believes I have left Tom for John."

"Well, it kind of looks that way from out here," Michelle said softly, grimacing at her words.

"I suppose it does, doesn't it," Barbara whispered. "We'll soon fix that."

Taking out her phone, she dialed and spoke softly. Nodding, she closed her phone and sat back smiling. Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up to the mansion. Waiting there, was a solitary figure, Thomas. Barbara slipped out of the car first and ran into his waiting arms. They had been apart for a long time. I had kept her away from him far too long. Stepping up to him, I wait until he finishes saying hello to his lovely wife.

"Tom, I do apologize for keeping her away so long. Please do forgive me?" I asked him politely.

"John, there is no need to apologize. I knew when she became the Duchess of Janus she would be away from home quite frequently."

Extending his arm, Barbara takes it and they climbed the stairs and entered the mansion together. Turning, I see two of Gerry's men grab our bags and scuttle up the stairs. Michelle stands there staring at me. Crooking my arm, she slips hers in mine. Together we walked into the mansion laughing. Just inside the door, both Tom and Barbara were "talking" with Susan. When she sees Michelle and me, she scowled at both of us. This caused me to laugh even more, which triggered Michelle to have another bout of laughter.

Upstairs, we go to George's office. Inside we find peace and quiet. George was sitting back in his chair staring at the ceiling. Mark was reading one of the books from the shelves. Henry was nowhere in sight.

"So, is everything ready for the gather week after next?" I asked.

"Yep just finished the preparations not fifteen minutes ago," George said sighing. "Now, I'm going to take my wife off your arm and take her to bed with me."

Rising George hurried to his wife take her hand and pulled her out the door and down the hall.

"Is Susan still getting yelled at?" Mark asked softly.

"Yeah, she's madder than a wet hen," I said smiling.

"Serves her right, I told her to keep her nose out of her parents business," he confessed.

I stood mute, as I hear the yelling coming from the hallway and it was getting closer by the minute. It explodes into the room as Susan rushes in and stands before me. Barbara and Tom were close on her heels.

"Susan, don't you dare," Barbara tells her.

"I will and you can't stop me. John, what are your plans and how does my mother fit into them now that you have moved here?"

I just look at her. I try to show no emotion on my face or in my eyes. I just stare into her eyes. Shortly, she huffs and stomps her foot.

"Susan," I start, "you should know, while I have deep feelings for your mother, there is no plot by me, to take her away from your father. You should also know they love each other very much. They also love you very much and although they do want you to be happy, they would also like to be happy.

"That being said, I do have to confess if your mother were not married to your wonderful father, then I would have designs on her, just as I would have designs on you if you were not married to that marvelous man over there. Now was the time for you, as a loving daughter to keep your nose out of your parent's life. They not only don't answer to you but also will not answer to you.

"As for me... I love you dearly, but... butt the fuck out!"

Mark was behind her. Her mouth was wide with surprise. You can see the anger rise as her eyes glint in the light. Just as fast, as it was there, it was gone. Mark places his hands on her shoulders, kissing her on the neck. She turns in his arms and hugs him fiercely.

"Susan," Mark started, "we discussed this... how it's your mother's life, how it's John's life. I know you love them both, but this is something, I think, they have worked out or will have to work out for themselves."

"God damn it," Susan said softly, "I know, I know that deep down in my heart."

Turning to face Barbara, Tom and me, Susan smiles, then hangs her head in thought.

"First," her words are light and her eyes, as she raised her head, glisten with tears, "I want to apologize to you all. Second, I want to apologize to my mother and John. I had no business in your business."

Stepping up to us each she hugs and kisses us. Then turns and runs away, out the door.

"Mark, let me," Barbara said, turning and following her daughter out the door.

Chapter 3

Rubbing my face in my hands, I sit heavily in the chair in front of George's desk. Mark comes over and pats my shoulder before taking the seat next to me. Tom takes the seat behind the desk.

"John, I know what's going on in other lodges. I also know you are the man for the job. I also know my wife is the woman for the job. I hold no animosity toward you. You have my total support, as does my Barbara. Now, if you will excuse me, I think my daughter needs to hear that from me," Tom said softly, rising, heading out the door in search of his wife and daughter.

"I too, support you, John," Mark said.

"Thank you, Mark," I say smiling.

"I have let Susan know I will not tolerate her interfering in what you and her mother do or don't do."

"I appreciate that I do. Next week we'll see how Michelle handles it, as Pam is going with me."

"Oh really," Mark chuckles softly.

"What?"

"Nothing... all right, all right. It's just George let it slip that Michelle will be very upset with you if you take her mother with you."

"Oh she will, will she?" I chuckle as I slap Mark on back. "So tell me how things are going with the grand gathering?"

"Well, it was really touch and go for a while, but we finally got things straightened out. It's going to be at the new hotel on eighty-three, the..."

"I know the one," I said.

"Well it turns out a member is the manager of that one and we have several other members who either manage or own other hotels. We were able to move reservations around so we have the whole building for the week. The local staff has been given the week off with pay and we have staff from every lodge coming in to work the event."

"I knew you guys could get it done. Well done, well done."

"What's well done?" Barbara asked, as she walks into the office.