This is the 12th and final part of the tale of a Lady and her stable of slaves
But it is not the end for the characters
12. Epilogue
As it turned out any fears about what might happen with the others at the manor proved to be unfounded. Deanna had persuaded first Jared, and then his doctors, to allow him to be discharged to the manor for his rehabilitation. She explained that she had her own gym there and that she would hire a physical therapist for however many hours a day was required. She would purchase or rent any other necessary equipment and she assured them all that she had a full 'staff' that would otherwise see to his every need. And she would make certain that he would be taken to any and all follow up Doctor's appointments so they could monitor his progress.
In the end everyone was in agreement and three days later, after all necessary arrangements were made, Jared was discharged from the hospital and came back to the manor. As he was still unable to walk, the private ambulance attendants carried him up by stretcher to the previously unoccupied bedroom on the second floor, down the hall from Deanna's room and right next to her small gym. The room had been furnished with a hospital bed, a flat screen TV, a radio, and a comfortable recliner.
The physical therapist that Deanna had hired came for four hours a day, and Thomas made sure to supervise another hour or two of exercises a day as well. Abel went out of his way to make extra special meals for him, and as he couldn't yet get down the stairs he ate in his room. Any of them would have been happy to join him for these meals to keep him company, but Deanna pulled rank and began taking all of her meals with him. Indeed, she was spending more and more of her time with him when he wasn't involved with his rehab, even, as he got stronger, spending nights with him as well.
His cast came off a week later and his physical therapy then really began in earnest. Within a week he was taking steps with a walker and within another, holding tight to the railing, he could negotiate stairs. By the third week he could walk unaided and the physical therapist marveled at his progress. By the fourth week he was going up and down the stairway with no problem and walking with only the slightest of limps, as Deanna beamed her delight.
It was evident to all in the manor that their Lady's happiness wasn't just due to Jared's recovery. It was to Jared himself and the intense connection which they had reestablished. Far from being jealous they were all extremely pleased that she had finally found her joy. None of them had ever really envisioned that their stay at the manor would be a life long circumstance. They were just happy that the Lady had given them all the opportunity to discover and delve into their deepest identities, to develop and to grow, and to understand. And she had done so in caring and mutually fulfilling way. In their hearts they would always be her slaves, but it was now time to move on, to reenter the world and to find their own individual and special ways, now confident and comfortable with who they were.
Michael was the first to leave and his was the easiest as he already spent most of his time working away from the manor. Utilizing the strong reputation he had built in so successfully managing and marketing Deanna, and with her permission, he began to take on select new clients. They were always women, all in the entertainment or media fields, and all had developed well earned reputations of being divas who were impossible to work with. People in the field soon became amazed at how well Michael was able to manage these 'difficult personalities' and successfully advance their careers almost in spite of themselves. He did it by always humbly and happily meeting each and every one of their often denigrating and humiliating demands. Deanna remained his first and foremost patron and always treated him with appreciation and respect, which he would always cherish and covet. But he was now able to further satisfy many of his other 'needs' with clients to whom he could continually cater and cower.
Thomas was the next to go. With Deanna's encouragement and financial seed money he set up his own landscaping business again. This time, with endorsements from her to high end contacts she had in the publishing and media world in the area, he got several contracts, and through his own hard and quality work his business quickly grew, so much so that he rapidly became able to employ several crews at a time. He still tended weekly to the manor which he always personally supervised, and insisted, despite Deanna's protestations, to do so for free.
Living again on his own he began working out and weight lifting again in the evenings at a local fitness club. There he soon became aware of a lady body builder who regularly worked out there as well. One evening he dredged up the courage to offer to spot for her when she was lifting free weights, which she gratefully accepted and she then did the same for him. Her name was Maureen but she liked to be called Mo. They quickly became lifting partners and rapidly became partners in other ways as well. As they began to know each other so much better they discovered that they also had a deeply shared interest in bondage. Having the more dominant personality, as he was submissive, she tended to enjoy binding more than being bound, but she did occasionally like to experience being restrained herself as long as it was by someone she could implicitly trust. Together they explored more and more intricate and creative methods of confinement, and their shared passion in this and the trust it required and engendered soon flowered into other areas and it wasn't long before the two of them became inseparable and figuratively bound at the hip.
It took both Jared and Deanna to finally convince Abel to take the plunge and pursue his long held dream of operating his own restaurant. This of course would require a large financial stake, but both of them were more than willing to become silent minority partners, contributing enough resources to get him off the ground. Abel would maintain majority ownership through his own sweat equity. It wasn't that he didn't believe that he was a talented enough chef to be successful. It was just that he wasn't sure that he knew how or could run the other nitty gritty aspects of the business. Michael assured him that he would help with marketing, but Abel needed someone he could rely on to manage the customers and wait staff while he did the cooking.
He put an ad out in the local papers and one of the first applicants to respond was a young woman named Gwen. She had been a waitress at a club in the city for a number of years and was looking to advance herself as a restaurant manager. To his great distress Abel immediately thought that he recognized her, and a quick check of the references she brought confirmed it. She was the waitress who had served the Lady and Belle that night at the lesbian club. He prayed that she wouldn't somehow make the connection, but to his dismay and consternation she did begin to look at him more intently and strangely.
"Excuse me for asking." she finally put forth. "This might seem like a funny question, but do you have a sister who lives in the area."
Abel blanched and began to lose his composure. "A sister ... ah, no ... I've never ... had any sister ... never ... any one..."
