The next night, before the Sunday service which that week was to be led by Ashleigh and Samantha, Peter rushed between two houses as he put his six children to bed. As usual, he kissed Ruthie and Hope on their cheeks before heading over to his house with Felicity. They were getting ready to make love when his phone rang. He recognized the number as that of Annie's cell phone.

"Hi Annie, what's up?" he asked.

"I'm glad I got you, Peter," said Annie, rather somberly. "Eric just had another heart attack. The doctors have stabilized him, but the next seventy-two hours are going to be critical. He's in ICU as I speak."

"Oh Annie, I'm sorry. Do you want me to get Ruthie and the twins to call you?"

"As soon as you can. I've called Matt, Mary, Lucy and Simon, too, so that end's taken care of."

"Well, Felicity and I and Jim and Heather, we'll all be praying for you and Eric. The rest of the gang here will too," Peter assured his ex-mother-in-law.

"That said, Peter," said Annie, "how are you doing? You have six children - four with Ruthie and two with Felicity, and another on the way. You must be exhausted!"

"From what Ruthie tells me, you and Eric never were raising seven children. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Remember, Peter, if you hadn't cheated on Ruthie - "

"Don't go there," said Peter angrily. "Isaac and Rebecca aren't mistakes. They're gifts from God. They were meant to be. Just as James and Heather, and Jane and Randall. And our baby on the way, he's a blessing too. Matter of fact, Felicity and I are talking about having more children in the next few years. Two, maybe three."

"I'm sorry, Peter," said Annie contritely. "I still haven't quite gotten over being angry with you and Ruthie for cheating on each other. I've accepted the fact and what came out of it, but I'm still mad."

"I can't say I blame you, Annie. But Ruthie and I talked about it a couple of months back, and well, we had reached a point where we didn't love each other anymore. We had a one night trial to see if it would respark something. It didn't but we ended up creating a new set of twins. As you know, a couple of days later, Felicity and I did the same. As for Ruthie, she has no regrets sleeping with Lisa Lumby. Although I knew she was bisexual, or she told me as much, she had been in the closet about being a lesbian and that all changed the few days they were together. I now have Hope as a sister-in-law, and - well - I gained a best friend in the process."

"You and Hope ... you're best friends?"

"We are. She's a great listener, something pretty rare with televangelists. Well, Felicity is too, but with Hope I can confide things that I am sometimes afraid of asking my wife. In turn, I offer advice about her relationship with Ruthie."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," said Annie, "but as long as Felicity and Ruthie are both okay with it, I guess I am too. By the way, how are Heather and James?"

"Annie, they're champions," said Peter. "They have four siblings - well, actually, five, now that Rita is part of the family. They help take care of the babies' every need, feeding them, changing their diapers, doing everything a brother and sister should do. There's no doubt in my mind, when they're old enough to have children of their own, they'll be great parents."

"What about their relationships? I understand they have a boyfriend and girlfriend, respectively?"

"Yeah, Chester and Maggie. As long as they're careful, Ruthie and I have no problems with that. Far as Rita and Rhiannon go - they're perfect for each other!"

"Well, Peter, I have to ask you this - I apologize if I'm on a tear here but I'm really worried about Eric - still, I worry about Ruthie, who I still consider my baby. How are things between you and her?"

"We care about each other, and yes to an extent, we still love each other - as parents. But nothing more," said Peter.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Annie. "Because the amount of time you, Ruthie and Felicity spend together worries me? You have two families you're raising all together, and you're the common thread that ties everyone together. Except for Rita."

"She thinks of me as a stepfather. I don't know why - I see myself more like an uncle to her, but whatever ..."

"Aren't you glad she's part of the family?"

"Yes! And Ruthie and Hope are wonderful mothers to her! She just came along totally unexpectedly - just like my four youngest did. But again, I wouldn't change a thing."

"Do you love Ruthie more than just as a parent? Do you wish you still could have sex with her?"

Peter paused. He knew he had to tell Annie the truth about what happened a few months before.

"Okay Annie, you have the right to know. One night, Felicity invited Ruthie to have a three way with me. She agreed, and we did. The other families in the pastoral team found out, and promised not to tell anyone. I'm sorry, Annie, but we couldn't help ourselves. It was the one way we could think of to truly bind our two families together."

Annie was horrified.

"How did James and Heather find out?"

"Heather and Rhiannon were Skyping earlier that evening, but both forgot to log out. Shelby and Rod were babysitting them, and with their children also watching they saw the whole thing."

"That must have been a shock to them - especially the children." Annie was now more concerned than angry.

"Well, the kids were engrossed - and the parents were just delighted to see real porn, not the manufactured kind that comes out of LA's north side. The admonitions quickly went out the window when Heather had her first period, right then and there - and James revealed he had his first wet dream a couple months before. Ruthie and I knew nothing about that until the next day. Seems Shel and Rod were more proud than Ruthie and I were. But that's how it is with the team here - we all care for each other. And it proved to be a teaching moment - the Parkers taught our children as well as theirs that their bodies were to be respected, they shouldn't be with anyone who didn't respect them - and to wait until they were sixteen, at the least."

"Good for them!" said Annie. "At least they teach values. Do you and Ruthie?"

"Our values are the same as theirs," said Peter, "but maybe we don't bring them up as much. We figure Heather and James are old enough to figure it out for themselves, a lot of it."

"Well, they're not. Ruthie and Felicity can both be part of the tag team, and so can Hope. If they learn from one father and three mothers the values of respect for oneself and for others, then they won't make stupid mistakes that they'll regret for the rest of their lives. Just promise me the four of you will have a sit down with James and Heather sometime next week and give them the same talk the Parkers and Wilkinsons have had with their children."

"Okay Annie, we will," promised Peter. "I hope Eric gets well. We'll all say a prayer for him at service tomorrow."

"Thanks Peter. I love you."

"Love you too."

Peter hung up the phone.

"I don't think you should have told Annie," said Felicity, wearing her nightgown.

"Better I tell her than she find out," said her husband. "Besides, we have to let Ruthie, Sam and David know what's going on with their father."

Ruthie got a call from Peter. She sobbed, and Hope comforted her. Meanwhile Felicity called the twins. Their wives, Ashleigh and Samantha, were more upset than the husbands - but they too were all in shock.