By the end of the day, the deal was finalized. Prudence would plead guilty to one RICO violation, plus one count of molesting her son and nine more civil rights violations, including the rape of the runner Carrie. All the other civil rights and fraud charges would be dropped. Prudence would get a twenty-five year sentence - effectively a life sentence at her age - but she was guaranteed time in a minimum security facility where she would get treatment for her cancer.

In exchange she would testify against Harrison. His lawyer demanded a mistrial but the judge declined this request, although he did agree Prudence would only testify at the very end of the case for the prosecution. He also agreed that the prosecution could treat Prudence as a hostile witness, just in case she had second thoughts.

Patrick was still raging hours later in his hotel room. He wanted blood - his mother's. But Tamara calmed him down.

"Patrick, you've won with this agreement!" she said. "And so has Hope. Everything your sister has said will now be confirmed by your mother - everything. More importantly, she has to tell everything she did to you, in open court. Do you have any idea how humiliating that will be for her?"

"Twenty-five years is more than ten, but I wanted her to get the max!" said Patrick angrily.

"So did we all," agreed his wife, "but in the justice system, especially the federal one, plea bargains are a way of life. Pat, your mother may have been a worse predator, but it's your father the feds want most. All this time, Harry has been counting on one thing - the spousal privilege. If both your parents remained silent, then the case was all about numbers and circumstantial evidence and the chances for acquittal that much greater. Your mother has waived that privilege - which means the real fraudster, the one who has absolutely no remorse about molesting little boys and girls. Your Mom - sorry, mother - has shown at least some. Doesn't that mean something?"

"Even if she says sorry, right in front of my face, I will never forgive her, Tammy."

"You don't have to! And I wouldn't want you to forgive her. Certainly, I can't! But she's going to admit she did it. In our business, that is huge. So many in our ranks have committed fraud or evasion or some of the most heinous crimes. They head right back to TV after a few years in jail and never admit what they did was wrong. The few that have, they regain at least some of their trust. I think that's what your mother is hoping for - that she will still have some respectability when this is over."

"Maybe ... but I wanted a guilty verdict from a jury, not a judge accepting a plea bargain."

"Patrick, sexual assault is what happened to you. It's not who you are," said Tamara. "You've got me, our children and our children to be ..."

At this point she rubbed her tummy. She was several weeks away from the delivery of her twins.

" ... just as important, you've got Hope, Ruthie, Peter, Felicity, Rod and Shelby - and all their children. You are a strong human being. And you're better than your mother. You'll get over this."

Patrick thought about this for a minute.

"Tammy ... I'd go totally crazy without you and Hope. I'll give her a huge hug in the morning. As for you and me ... can we make love, please? The sweetest thing I've ever known, and will ever know, is loving you!" he said.

"You'll never have to ask twice from me. I'll always say yes!" Tamara said.

They walked over towards their bed, and started undressing.

Three rooms over, Hope and Ruthie were already making love, although they too felt anger over the plea bargain.

"Doesn't seem fair, darling," said Ruthie, as she and her wife were climaxing.

"Your brother-in-law's a cop," reminded Hope. She had her peak, then said, "He'll tell you that deals are a dime a dozen. Well, this is a huge one to be sure ... but to be honest, I think it's the right deal."

"Why?" asked her wife. She lifted her naked body off of Hope's as she herself climaxed, and sat up.

"Think about it this way," said Hope, sitting up as well. The wives were looking at each other. "Are you familiar with the game Tit for Tat?"

"Not really."

"Okay, two guys are arrested for murder. They are interrogated separately. Each is offered the same deal, although it's only available to the first one who takes it. The deal is this: You rat on your friend, you get five years for manslaughter. You don't rat, you'll be tried for murder and if you're convicted you'll get twenty but if the jury thinks there's insufficient evidence you'll only get a year on a minor drug charge. Do you rat even if it means five years instead of one?"

"Sure I do," said Ruthie. "Especially if there isn't going to be full disclosure."

"Yeah. Mom's the rat. In this case, the sentence is huge ..."

"Not really. If her cancer is that bad, she's got five years if she's lucky. I'm sorry for you on that count - as well as Patrick."

"Well, thanks honey," said Hope, "but would you rather do that time in a prison hospital, or a maximum security facility?"

"Gotcha. By the way, what do you think it is?" asked Ruthie.

"I haven't a clue!"

"I think it might be twins."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I'm not ... but I'd like them to be. I don't know, I'm just used to dealing in pairs."

"We'll find out soon enough!"

The women resumed making love.

In his bedroom, Peter was on his cell phone having a long conversation with his wife. Felicity had taken an early flight home on an executive jet so she could be with her and Peter's children. She, too, was angered by the plea agreement but figured the DA must have run out of options if he was willing to settle this early in the trial.

"That doesn't mean I agree with it," she said, as the talk drew to a close and she was putting their children to their cribs. "Of all the ministries I have investigated, going back to my days with the think-tank, then when I branched out on my own, there is one ministry I have had my sights set on more than any other. Grace is Yours. I even had a critical eye on Hope because I thought she was on the take."

"And it turns out she was," said Peter.

"Yes. But between their faith healings and their fundraising practices, Harry and Prudence took the cake, far and away. I've never seen such a lifestyle or such arrogance. And that was without the sex abuse charges - which I knew nothing about until Hope and Patrick came into our lives."

"Your - OUR - home in Enid isn't a poor man's house, honey. People would kill to have a four thousand square spread."

"A hundred and twelve rooms? Twenty of them bathrooms, all gold plated faucets and marble fixtures? No, darling, I would never have a house that rich. I custom built that house for the day when I had a family so my children would have lots of room to play. The home is still there for us, our family."

"I love Saint Louis ... and I can't help it, I still love Ruthie and the children we have together. I can't leave them!"

"Well, be that as it may," Felicity said, "once the abuse charges came out, there was no doubt in my mind they were true. It certainly fits into their arrogant personalities. I don't believe for a minute that Prudence' cancer prompted her to cut a deal. Nor her remorse - I think she has none."

"Yeah, agreed Peter. "She's pulling a fast one. But we've only got ten days to prove it before the agreement is confirmed. Tell you what, I'll call Kevin and Billie. I'll have Ruthie call her friends in intelligence, and you ..."

"I'll call the think-tank," offered his wife. "Maybe they have something in their metadata that could blow this open."

"Felicity? I love you so much. I can't wait to get home so we can make love again."

"Yeah, me too! Hugs and kisses!"

Felicity hung up the phone at her end. She wasn't sure what to do next. But then it hit her.

When morning broke and she was serving breakfast to the children, she dialed her old boss. After an exchange of pleasantries, the man tried talking suggestively to her, but this was quickly cut off when Felicity reminded him she was a married woman. He apologized. The next question she asked was if it was true that Harry and Prudence Anderson had cancer - or were sick with anything, for that matter.

"They're quite elderly," the announcer said. "I have no real reason to doubt them. Health problems are bound to happen at that age."

"Well, something tells me that Prudence is only cutting a deal so she doesn't have to face the 'Queens' who could finish her off in prison. You know the prison code about child abusers. I also want to give her the benefit of the doubt in case she's actually done good with some of her ministry's resources. I wouldn't ask you, old friend ... but between my children and the one I'm carrying, and keeping an eye on Ruthie's four, not to mention my office work here, I really have my hands full. I gave you a steady revenue stream years ago. I'm calling in a favor. It's not just about me, it's about Hope and Patrick too."

"When is Prudence pleading guilty?" he finally asked after a pause.

"It's nine days now, next Thursday, at, um, two our time." Both were in Central Time, as the man had relocated his operation from California to Illinois some years before. "Unless she or the DA puts it off for some reason."

"I'll get you some answers by Monday at the latest. Oh, and you and your pals had better keep your eyes peeled out for Arnold Thompson. Now that he's sitting on all that cash, he's going to want to do stuff with it. Only so much we can do here."

"We already know about him, but thanks. Thanks for everything, chief."

"Send the gang my best. Especially Hope and Patrick. They deserve to be happy with their wives."

"I will!"

Felicity hung up the phone.

"How can anyone agree to make a deal with that ... Wicca," said Heather in tears. "I can't imagine Mom and Dad - or you - ever doing that to Jim and me, but what about all the children who were hurt?" She ran to her stepmother, who hugged her.

"Sweetheart, it's okay," Felicity said. "I love you and I will never hurt you or any of your siblings! You have a safe home here, and it will always be safe. Your mother and father and I have all agreed, nothing will ever come between any of us. And if someone at school is hurting you, you have a safe haven here."

"Thanks, Mom," said Jim. "I like calling you Mom, just like our other mother." He walked over and hugged Felicity too.

"Maybe this should be our sermon on Sunday ..." said Heather, "that our church is a safe haven and we'll make sure foster care gets involved if any kid in the congregation feels unsafe for any reason."

"I don't know if that's in our sermon, I think Tammy will be the guest lector on Sunday," said Felicity. "But I'm making sure it's mentioned during the service. I have a feeling some of the parents who bring their families here aren't safe as parents, that they're taking advantage of their privileges. I hope not, but I can't help but wonder."

Felicity thought of her parents, who never abused her physically but had neglected her throughout her life until they were killed in a car crash. She broke down in tears, and held her stepchildren tightly against her.