My plans that day changed not that I had set out with any real plans other than ti begin working on the prep work for the additional area, accept there were way more folks than I had planned on having around moving about, and my leg was feeling the strain of the last two weeks. I went into find the twins only to find my two older daughters were here along with a few other young women, Julie asked what happened to walking mom down the aisle of the church. I called time out and told her to back up. When she looked at me I told her hello, nice to see her again without going so long between visits and I was wondering if I could at least get a hug as my day was not going so well. Handing the spoon to one of the other girls she walked over and told me she was not trying to be mean. Smiling I told her first she could start by telling me why she was there not that she could not just show up and stop in but my guess was mom was up to something, because I had not old a single soul beyond those who needed to know we got married again. My second in line came over and told me she thought the place was kind of cute and really liked the furniture. One of the girls who I did not know told her especially the yard furniture. I told her I did not know I had yard furniture and as I looked out I saw one of the loaders go by. My daughters red face gave me a clue. I told her just so she knew those boys had not been invited by me and I guessed they were married. Julie told me not all of them. I pushed my way in front of the twins apologizing to the young women saying a daddy could not be too careful these days around strangers. Julie looked at me and looking at the ladies I realized I had met one of them and apologized and told her her name had slipped my mind since we last met. She smiled and told me it happens and asked how I had been doing and I told her my guess she had finished her degree by now. Nodding she said yes she had; I asked if it had brought her everything she had ever wanted; Julie scolded me. I told her to please not interrupt up my reintroduction to, she told me her name was Sarah. I told her thank you and she rolled her eyes. I finally asked Sarah which one of them had been at the house it disappeared. Sarah pointed and I eyed her and saw the same cheekbones as Christopher on a slightly more oval face and then looking at the other young woman I saw the same bone structure but her eyes were definitely her dads and I told them I knew their dad.
They looked at each other and I told them my bark was worse than my bite these days, the one who had been at the house asked if I was alright as she pointed to my leg and I told her that had not come from my car getting blown up as it happened recently when I was working with one of the horses. I watched as several faces got brighter and asked Sarah said they had been kind of hoping they could go for a ride, I told her that depended on whether or not someone was actually clue me in the names of her friends and let me on mom's secret. Julie told me mom did not have a secret; I nodded and asked if that was why I had a steady stream of women in various states of undress parading through not only my house but my bedroom also. She offered that my water lines were broken. I told her no they had been leaking for some time but they had still worked. Sarah said I knew Christina and she always knew how to have a good time and knew how to do up a women's night out and by the way the two young women who were so kind in helping babysit whoever's children those two were were Michelle and Kelly Jo and were Chris's other sisters. Nodding I told her I had deduced that from their facial structure and those children were Christopher's twin brother and sister. Julie told her I had adopted them. Sarah told her that her mom must have loved that. When she said yes she did; I asked how her shower was and was told it was a wee bit on the chilly side and I might like to know the man with the gun was back. I told her with all the traffic driving by the diner I bet he was a bit curious and my guess most of the neighbors were up there as well watching all those fancy cars turn down the dead end road and never come out not to mention the supply trucks. Sarah told me it was bit full when they drove by this morning. Smiling I told her if she liked good old comfort food she couldn't beat it but I would not recommend going there on a Friday or Saturday night even with the live music or more to the point because of the live music. Michelle asked if I did not like country music and I told her I liked country music just fine but in her case my guess some good ole boy would buy her a drink; and she would say yes to a dance or two and sometime between that first drink and the morning she would have to ask herself if she was sober enough to understand if she really wanted to do the horizontal two step and get whisked away on the back of a Harley with only a leather vest to keep her warm.
Christina told me she had not been to a biker bar in a long time and I told her that was no biker bar just a middle of the nowhere diner which had a dance floor and a small stage in their lounge and banquet hall. Eyeing her I told her if she really wanted to dance there were much more family friendly places not as close but close enough to make it worthwhile and there was also Laughlin or an Indian Casino which all had at least one night of Country music and line dancing at least a couple times a month if not every week. When another large piece of equipment drove by heading to the front of the house I picked up the twins and hobbled out and told her I would be watching the show. I asked someone if the could get the child gate from under the stairs. Sarah brought it out and I told her later I would show her what horse she could ride if she could promise not to fall off. Once the gate was secure I gave a whistle which brought the movement to a stop. Beth and John who were surveying came over and she told me the trees had to come down and I told her I knew that and had put out and invitation for the boys scouts to come over when I dropped them. She looked at my leg and I asked since she was volunteering her services did she really want her boys doing that part of the job When she nodded she showed me the computer aided version of my colored drawings. I eyed her and she told me it was john's doing not hers as most of these boys had enough trouble reading the black and white prints and she did have a team of decent mechanical engineers who when she sent out my renderings jumped on it right away and I should have a complete set of construction drawings to turn in when I went to pull a permit. Smiling I told her she already knew I was going to get my own colors and make new ones. John told me the new septic system was on its way and the figured on letting leach behind the cabins. I told him I had already figured that as it would also make a good place to put a ball field. Eyeing the twins he asked how long I intended on staying. I told him for the moment mom had another year of school and we were close enough when she got her car next month we were close enough for her to jump in it on Friday's drive out and then be back to school on Monday morning.
I saw Christina raise her eyebrow but she did not say anything. When my big dog showed up I let him on the porch and seeing the twins he sniffed them and then lay down. Carrie Ann saw him and let me know it was time for her to get down. Setting them down I took a seat and studied the lawn area and looked at the conceptual blue print. I made some notes and redrew the facing and added a second story to the rec center drawing on the back I drew what I wanted it to look light and even added a few people. I handed it back and told Beth I was looking to stay with the old west thing but I liked the idea of a steel building. She took the drawing back and I told her I had not planned on building this in one day so as long as she finished the water and the newer septic system and used it for the cabins and out buildings I could take care of the rest. John told me my water would be on in another hour and then tomorrow the boys said they could have water on to the other buildings and if no used the toilets he doubted anyone would care if the shower water ran out for a couple of days. I asked if he had a line on portable toilets and he nodded and said he had thought of that but wanted to check with me first. I told him I was not having a thousand women strolling through my house all hours of the night. They walked off; Christina asked if that was how we were going to treat our guest and I smiled and told her know it was how I was going to deal with having not to tell them they would have to take a shovel out back as my septic system was not designed to deal with that number of women and neither was the septic system on the barn. Smiling I told her John was smart enough to bring in the trailered bathrooms with showers. She asked if I told someone the house was off limits; I told her yes I did and again the reason was this place was too small to be a meeting room and since they could use the hangout. She told me we also had to figure out how to feed them; I asked her why as I did not remember inviting anyone over for dinner last night and there was not much to begin with and my guess would be when I went to get my breakfast there would be not much more than a bottle of wine and water in the fridge.
Before she got mad I told her it was okay I would not let them starve but right now I was not driving into town. Sarah started to offer to go to town and then told me to look down. The twins had curled up next to the dog and were sleeping. Looking at her I asked if she was up to taking a look through the barn and making sure everyone was fed and watered and there should be a couple of children already in there taking care of their animals and were pretty good about making sure mine were fed and on every stall it was listed what they were to be given and how much. As I looked at the women who were now wandering around in small groups with a few looking like they were getting ready to go jogging, I told Christina I think I might be able to handle breakfast with a little help but lunch was more or less borrow a carrot or apple from the barn. Looking down at the still napping twins I glanced at my wife and saw her looking down. I asked if she minded if I left for only a few minutes; her look changed to one of worry. Looking at the daughters of her one time fling I asked if they had found a place to sleep yet, Julie told me all the beds were filled in the cabins. I asked why she thought she needed to sleep in the cabin. She answered that on there way in the security told them the house was off limits to guests. Taking her hand I told her she was not a guest and since she was kind of a sister to her three friends they were not guests either and if one them would be so kind to help mom with the wee ones I needed to see to some things. As I began my journey I decided to skip the cane and push my leg a little.
Christina spoke my name and I waved as I hobbled down the stairs. I forced myself to walk as normal as I can even though it shot pain up my spine. but it was nothing like the shoulder had been or my two weeks of electric shock therapy which I had not thought about over the last year as if having to lay it out for the world to see was a therapy in itself and made it someone else's problem. I was aware that the man behind that was on his way out from his political appointment and that he had taken credit or had been given credit for some of the information I had passed on during the months of debriefing my entire adult life or much of it as there was some things I did not tell as I knew there would be ramifications and then I saw one of those objects of some of that information looking around the corner of the equipment shed; she saw me so I waved her over. She was in her jogging attire and for some reason caused me to think of what I supposed were our intimate times together serving as a security consultant but immediately jumped to the meeting Christina and I had with her in Colorado. When she jogged down to me across the lawn I saw why she had been lurking as the man with the gun came around the corner and headed straight for her. Shaking my head i watched as he looked more mad at her than as if he was concerned for her protection and the look of fear in her eyes. I kept walking toward the equipment shed; he was not focused on me at all until too late and just to prove a point i dropped him while taking his side arm and wallet. The man was agile and was up as fast as he went down. His focus was still on her and not me; so I pulled her in front of me and whispered to her to play along and with that I put the barrel of the gun which I had already cleared and removed the clip from to her head. At that point he stopped focusing on her and looked at me. I lowered the piece and started walking a woman who I once had to babysit in a manner of speaking up the hill and when I stopped to take a look back he was using his comm to call for reinforcements. I told my captive if she wanted to lose this babysitter to kiss me. I did not expect the kiss to be in the middle of my face and with tongue or the grip she would have around my neck. When I pried her off he was three steps behind me and raging. I got the hint and when he swung I put him down again. Beth's boys who had been my boys or at least many of them had stopped their work and had closed in on me while his team came in with guns drawn. I waved them off and told them if this had been real the person they were supposed to be protecting who their team leader had decided to make his main squeeze would be dead. Pointing to the man who was back on his feet I told him to stand down or the next time he went down he would be staying there and if I ever caught him sleeping with his charge again it would not be her life but his he had better be worried about.
He tried to stare me down and when that did not work I told him twice now a crippled man had disarmed him albeit the first time I had help from The Beast so he also needed to learn to stop relying on his sidearm and start relying on his mind and use it which brought me to another point and that was his trespassing which I could forgive the first two times but now it seemed we would have to deal with that as well. That shocked him into regaining his composure and I handed him his gun back and told him his clip was somewhere in the lawn about fifteen meters back so his charge was never in any real danger other than she was about to get a spanking for trying to suck my tonsils out. When I looked at her I gave her the look telling her not to argue yet. She looked at me and then past me and I could tell Christina was coming toward us; she said she was sorry about that and had been overwhelmed with emotions that got the best of her and would explain it to the lovely bride. As she hurried off the man before me shook his head and told me that one, I told him not to take it personally. Just then my marine stepped out of the trailer and asked if we were done playing. I told her the lesson for today was over. Looking at me she smiled and told me good and for my information she asked for some help for two reasons, one as a professional courtesy and two she had no idea who all these people were and now with my little construction project she was also having to deal with delivery issues as well as having to worry about those bunch of fellows sitting up at the diner who had taken an interest in all the well heeled ladies driving down the dead end road. Looking around she said she was more than willing to undo her professional courtesy if they were not willing to remain where she assigned them. Pointing to the fellow I had to school she told him to please stay put as she had talked to his boss. When she went back inside the others walked off and he looked at me and said damn. I nodded and said she was one of the best. Christina who had stood off chose to step forward and holding the clip she said someone dropped something and she had little children running around, I looked down and noticed the girls had them out on the lawn helping them walk. As the security guard took his clip her voice softened and asked if he had been hurt anywhere. He called her ma'am when he told her he was fine and she told him Ms.Jennifer was just a bit tired of the overwhelming show of force and if he could tone it down a wee bit it would help her emotional state. Reaching up she grabbed my ear like mom used to and told me I should no better than scaring her like that. I said yes ma'am.
Patting my chest she told me about breakfast not to worry about the women as most had brought snacks for that very purpose and if I needed a cup of coffee there were at least a dozen coffee machines in The Marshall's Tavern and if I could not figure out how they worked without taking them apart she gave me permission to smile nicely and at least half a dozen women would come running but if she heard I asked one of them to kiss me.. she let it go and reaching up gave me a kiss which forget the tonsils she was going for my lungs. As she turned to stroll off she stopped and turning her head she told me that as they were short of beds, my boys would be shacking up with John, the five girls, Ms Miriam, Ms.Jennifer, Beth and her daughters would be staying at the house and of course my favorite women in the whole world. Smiling I told her I was glad and would be glad to continue sharing a bed with her. She shook her head and told me she was not my favorite woman. I told her I guessed I could give up the bed for mom. Looking at me she told me mom was not here as she was a little bit mad because I forgot to invite her to the wedding ceremony; I shook my head and told her it was her idea to skip the whole church thing when we got to the courthouse. Waving her hand she told me it all seemed kind of fuzzy now, but she did talk mom into coming out to help me next week and she was bringing her sister. Leaving me she walked along talking to the men who worked for Beth getting several laughs as she kept moving on. I had to sit so I moved into the equipment shed which at the moment was empty accept for the portable refinery I had been working on which was nearing completion. The fellow told me he guessed he might as well introduce himself; reaching his hand out he called himself Jeff. I think he was trying to test me a little and when I pulled him onto the drum next to me. i asked Jeff why he was here; he told me he was here to protect Ms. Jennifer; I raised my eyebrow. He said yes and no; yes they had gotten close and no they had not. I asked who he worked for, when he said Sir; I asked if that was a hard question. He did not have to answer as my current keeper walked out of the trailer. I looked at her and followed her eyes;
She glanced our way then walked to the far end of the shed, I was asked how long did he have to stay and I told him it was not like she was his boss. He started to get up and then sat back down, then got up and feigned interest in my project, one of many during my stay. He asked what it was for; I told him that was too keep me from going stir crazy. He asked who I was and how did I do that thing out there. I shrugged, looking up he told me no one had ever dropped him. I told him then it was a good lesson for him and he really needed to learn not to rely on firepower.and not get emotionally attached with women who liked to play the field, particularly if they would not get emotionally attached to you. Shaking his head he said that was done with, he had just wanted to talk to her. I told him here was not the time or place. He told me she kissed me, I nodded and said that I had not expected after I did not even remember how many years. He stared at me but before he could ask a thing a dump truck drove by causing him to look behind him. I left going behind the trailer and ran into an ex marine who said if you listened it was amazing what one can learn. She handed me a banana and told me to enjoy breakfast and I should really think about grocery shopping. I told her I went shopping the other day. Before she got by me I asked who she was babysitting. Smiling she told me don't worry about it and have fun and then motioned for me to move on. I ate the banana on the way to what was now a meeting room. Walking over I looked at the numerous machines and not one of them had a coffee pot. I don't think I was smiling when my handler came up she asked what flavor did I want; I asked if they had coffee flavored coffee, she smiled and asked if I still made coffee on the stove. I shook my head and told her now I preferred the campfire. She kissed me on the cheek and told me thanks; I eyed her as she walked off, smiling I wondered what was she up to. Five women came up to get there coffee and watching I was impressed with the way they warmed the milk with steam. When I went to pick one up Christina told me to put it down and step away. She handed me a cup and told me she found the coffee maker in the barn. One of he women turned to offer me a cup and seeing I had one she got that stance I had seen so many times over the years. I traded coffee with her and headed outside and had to jump out of the way of the loader starting to push dirt back in the trench twisting my leg.
I headed back toward the house and found the lawn had become a haven for most of the women all in the large hats and sun dresses and I had to check myself as I realized this was some sort of Garden Party. Turning to watch the boys who were ignoring the women for the most part as they were hustling to get done with the main pipe running to the house. I wanted to go riding and avoid the mess, I was grateful for the help but over my time spent here I had been doing the projects more or less by myself with some help from whatever visitor was in or the Marshall's though they mostly just handed me tools accept for their area in the equipment shed, I made them do the work themselves. By the time I made the back porch my leg was definitely a pain. In the kitchen I stopped as it was a mess, Julie looked up from where she was bent over pulling out all the contents of the cupboards. There was stuff on the floor I had never seen. She told me I should clean once in awhile and nodding I told her I did clean but the house had come as is. She asked what I was up to; I told her I was looking for my cane. She pointed up, I could hear a racket going on there as well. It took me some time to get up the stairs and I could smell fresh paint, the first one I met was Michelle who had paint all over her but at least they covered the floors was my thought. Pulling me along she brought me into the nursery which was undergoing a transformation she asked what color I wanted the furniture; whispering I told her it was log furniture so it made sense if it was the color of logs. She told me no really and I told her yes really and that way no matter what color they used on the walls they would go well together and when I was done with this set and handed them to her then she could paint them. Her sister asked when she got pregnant which got my daughter number two rushing in asking if she was really pregnant and if her dad knew. Michelle looked at me and I told her not to worry this furniture would hold out until she was ready. I found my cane laying under plastic on my bed. I angered my daughter when I ripped a hole in the plastic. With cane in hand I left and first went in search of the twins. John came cruising up on the six by six and had them both strapped in and told me he had rescued them from certain doom as he pointed to the far side of the house. Jumping on he gave me a ride to the far end of the barn. Walking in found the locals teaching some of my guests mainly a girl who had gotten to know me through Christopher about the different parts of the tack. She looked up as John told me he would watch the wee ones for a bit. One of the locals, Kimberly I thought her name was told me they had fed my horses and were about to go riding to check on the water and to see if more hay needed to be put out.
I figured I ought to know there names now as I had not actually set up the boarding aspect of the ranch, that had been the the state detective and his wife. I asked if she was Kimberly and she said no and pointed to another girl who had brown hair; she told me she was Amber. Looking past me Amber asked if we were having a party and I told her we were having something but since I had not been invited I was still not sure what it was so I thought I would come down and see if that demon child was ready to give it another try just as soon as I found her daddy. Someone said she was in the arena and The Beast had been wandering around earlier. As I walked toward the tack room someone asked why I let him just wander around; I chuckled and said he made a better guard dog than Junior. Kimberly asked who Junior was and I had to explain that I finally learned the dogs name. I heard the Beast before I saw him come in the far side of the barn at full speed before he slid to a halt. As usual this got the other horses making noise. I had him saddled in short order and then tossed a second saddle on the railing in easy reach. After I mounted I rode out with the second saddle in hand which when I got to the arena went on the rail. I was glad to see the filly still had her halter on and after thinking about I opted not to go through the process of climbing down getting her calmed down in order to get the saddle on her but I was going to add two leads to her halter. Riding back in I grabbed them off the hook tied the the loose ends together and used her daddy to pin her so I could hook the leads onto her. I knew if she bolted in the arena again ti would not bode well so with her leads turned reigns hooked over the horn I took her out of the arena and headed up to the road the dirt road was actually a sand jeep trail mostly. I was not actually thinking about much more than how I wanted to get from her daddy's back to hers.
Thankfully the machines stopped as the men watched me ride by. Out on the paved road I was surprised at the number of cars lining the one side as trucks were waiting to be off loaded. My thought was how much pipe did I need; though I was happy to see the local portable toilet vendor pulling a real portable bathroom. I trotted about a mile up he sand road to warm her muscles before I took a breath and nudged her daddy into a trot I could tell she was straining to run and since he was slightly faster I shrugged and let him have his head and we were off. At that speed with them running almost touching the transfer was easy but I could tell it was a shock as she poured on the speed. I just let her go as I used my legs to hold on as I tucked down. She soon forgot about me as she was free to run. I was a kid again and like so many other things recently that riding triggered memories so distant I did not know I had them. It was even before I moved in with mom and dad and Christina. They were only snapshots really but they were vivid.
Tired of living behind the veil of silence and political correctness.
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