Dreams Ch. 04

I knew I was Duke's favorite, but he fit in well with everyone. We told him to stay in touch and let us know when he'd be back in the city again. Hugs and kisses led to their departure.

*

The ten of us that were the core family sat around the living room on the chilly autumn day -- fifteen or twenty degrees colder than the previous day. Tom built a fire in the living room fireplace, so the room invited friendship and warmth.

We talked about the previous night, with gales of laughter and appreciation for all of the night's activities. I was frankly surprised at how open we all were about our sexual activities. The tone was almost like talking about a vacation or a sporting event we all participated in, but instead it was commemorating the five-some on the back patio, the motorcycle fuck, the cunnilingus on the kitchen counter, the threesome in the living room, the lesbian circles late in the evening, and of course, the 'All Fuck' we'd all participated in. There were other couplings of various combinations too, but these were the high points.

I raised an interesting topic of conversation, "Lovers, both Kate and Tara said to me as they were leaving that they wanted to be 'in the family' in so many words. I'm sure one of us will get a call from each of them. Alan and Karen want in too, and probably Duke, Aaron, and the rest of our guests."

Tom said, "I love them all; why wouldn't we be open to new people -- so long as they share our philosophy and tolerate this life style."

Beth said, "I have a related issue, and it might even get worse if other people want to move in with us, namely, the house needs expansion and make over here and there." She looked apologetically at Greg and Linda, but neither one did anything except nod approval for her idea.

She went on, "Ariel and I were talking while we did breakfast this morning. We need a second one of everything in the kitchen, or just a plain larger kitchen with more of a restaurant level set of appliances. The pantry needs enlargement; carrying up stuff from the basement at mealtime is getting old real fast. We need another washer and dryer; to work off the loads as a result of last night will take us into mid-week with the one machine and dryer." She paused, everyone was paying attention, "And, last, we need more bedrooms."

Greg said, "I still have a set of sketches our architect did years ago for a more bedrooms over the four car garage. With the hall in the middle, you could add four bedrooms and two baths up there."

Linda said, "I've watched us in the kitchen too. If we took one of the garage bays we could enlarge the kitchen into that space, adding appliances and such as you mentioned."

Tom said, "Before we jump into this, let's take stock of our finances and resources. These are all big ticket items." He paused and added, "Besides, who's to say that still other people won't want to be with us as well. All good ideas, but let's see where all this might take us -- financially, emotionally, and any other way you can think about."

*

Tara called me Monday morning, almost pleading with me to have a private lunch with her. I agreed and we met at Panerra's, a 'healthy choice' lunch and coffee spot. After we purchased our salads and teas, we went and sat in a small fenced-in courtyard just outside the restaurant's side door.

Tara looked deep into my eyes and pleaded, "What does someone like me have to do to join your family -- your circle?"

I smiled and said, "You're still feeling orgasms from the weekend?"

She laughed and said, "No, it's not just that. It's all of you, and how you fit together. I'm in love with all of you, and, as you guessed, I started with Josh. I like what you say about your outlook on life, on relationships, on each other, your open sexuality, and your spirituality. I like that you're all equals, and that you collectively problem solve. I want all that in my life. I've lived with two guys and had proposals of marriage from two others, and none even come close to what I see you guys have going."

"Where'd you hear all of that? Josh?"

Tara nodded, "Josh had said to talk to you. We've had long talks over the past month.

"I hope he explained the downside of our lives. We pool our funds, at least a lot of them. The house takes a lot to run. You give up a lot of privacy. There's an expectation that you'll be sexual and engaging even though we say you can opt out. Each of us has our idiosyncrasies and our perversions. It's a bit like living in a combined sorority and fraternity house at the same time, without the right attitude, someone will always be doing or have done something that pisses you off."

"But you don't act that way."

I said, "No, I have the right attitude. We are caring and thoughtful about each other -- I really mean it when I say we love each other ... and it's a deep love. I think it goes beyond traditional family."

"That's what Josh said." She paused and added, "He told me ... about the two of you. I mean I think that's so special. It's made me rethink my relationship with my older brother and his wife, although I haven't done anything about it."

"There's another issue that'll come up fairly soon too -- at least for some of us."

"What's that?" Tara asked.

"Children. Tom and Peter are approaching forty, and I've heard them mention not wanting to be approaching sixty with college tuition due. I'm in prime childbearing years, and so are Marcella, Beth, and Fran. You would be too. Greg and Linda have had their brood; they're a generation older. So all of sudden, if we start to honor our hormones, we're going to start popping out babies all over the place, THEN what kind of life will we have at the house?"

Tara asked, "Have you all talked about it -- together?"

I was pensive for moments and said, "No. I think we're going to have some interesting talk real soon though. Things have just been too hectic."

We paused and ate. I tried to measure how loud my biological clock was ticking, but I felt I could go either way on the issue right now. It wasn't something I wanted to postpone forever.

Tara asked again, "So back to my original question, what would it take for me to be part of your family?"

I smiled, leaned in and kissed her, and said, "Darling, you already are."

Tears came to Tara's eyes as I held her neck after my kiss. She stammered out, "What do you mean?"

"We talked about you yesterday afternoon. We're all in love with you. Kate too, and all the others that were there last night. You see we all pick good friends, and our friends have friends like us too. We all make it so easy to love each other and each other's friends."

"Oh, thank you." A tear of joy rolled down her cheek.

I realized as I sat there I knew the emotional and sexual side of Tara, but little about what she did other than date and love my brother. I asked her, "Tell me about the other side of Tara -- the part I don't know about."

Tara began, "Well, I run a restaurant in a hotel in the city. We're just about to enlarge the place, so I've been spending a lot of my extra time with architects and contractors figuring out how to do that, picking new equipment, and such. It's fun. I really love my work, but the hours can be a little crazy."

"How's that?"

"Well, some days I have to go down to the early morning fish markets, meat markets, and produce markets, order up things for a day or so, and then I normally work from before lunch through the dinner hours. I share some of that with my sous-chef."

"My God, when do you sleep?"

"I grab naps here and there."

"You might want to note that it takes about forty minutes to get into the city from the house. That's got to enter into your planning for after you move in. You are moving in with us aren't you?"

Tara's positively beamed from ear to ear: "Yes, when? I can leave my apartment instantly!"

I laughed and said, "You choose. This weekend? You'll have lots of help -- this is a working family."

*

Kate called Tom on Wednesday and asked for a 'private lunch.' Guessing the topic, Tom asked me to accompany him.

Kate was already seated at the Chinese Buffet when Tom and I walked in. She'd taken a table in a corner where she wouldn't be disturbed.

"Oh, Ariel, I didn't know you were coming."

Tom spoke, "I think I know what your conversation is about. Ariel and I have no secrets from each other, so I asked her to come too. I think she'll be helpful to you and what you want to do."

Kate looked puzzled, and said, "Well, all right, I guess." She looked into Tom's eyes and said, "What I wanted to talk about with you was becoming part of your family -- moving in with you guys at the house ..."

*

We moved Tara and Kate to the house on Saturday. Bill and Debbie, Kate's parents, got a large U-Haul truck and helped too. I was surprised to learn that Bill was a contractor, building custom high-end homes. Beth had never mentioned it.

I have always thought of myself as smart and able to make connections, but it took me until Sunday afternoon to connect the dots.

The dots I had been working on at the moment were the distance between Tara's two breasts. She lay next to me panting from a sexual workout and love making session with Dave and me. I was licking one breast, returning the nipple to a highly aroused state, and then dragging my salivating tongue across her chest to her other breast, making a big deal of having to climb around and around the breast to gain altitude, so I could reach the peak -- her other areola and nipple. As I licked, I also encountered some of the cum that Dave had splattered there in his last orgasm, when he withdrew and blasted shot after shot of his man juice up her body. Dave lay on Tara's other side so that she could occasionally lap and suck on his flaccid penis.

"See, if I connect this dot ... all the way over here ... and up this steep mountain ... where I have to go around and around ... collecting all this interesting goo along the way ... I get to this interesting dot over here ... and ... OH, MY GOD! I GOT IT."

Dave and Tara watched as I shot out of bed and into the bathroom. I emerged seconds later, hopping into my shorts and talking like a wild woman. "Tara, you're about to have a whole restaurant kitchen you want to get rid of -- RIGHT?"

Tara looked at me like a mad woman and slowly said, "RIIIGGGGHHHHT."

I looked at Dave and said, "And, Bill's a contractor, right?"

"Right."

"There's our new addition over the garage and remodeled kitchen. I've GOT to tell the others."

I flew out the door as I buttoned the top of my shirt. I ignored the fact that I had cum seeping down my leg -- as someone later pointed out, and that I smelled like Tara's pussy -- as someone else pointed out with great interest in where I'd left her.

*

Dinner that night was a buzz with my idea. Tara itemized the items in her hotel's kitchen that they were going to trash or sell off at next to nothing, yet they all worked just fine but wouldn't meet the needs of the larger kitchen the hotel wanted in their expansion. Kate had already called her father and talked to him about redesigning the kitchen and adding bedrooms. He'd promised to come back to the house on Tuesday night, joining us all for dinner, and looking at the sketches and hearing our ideas for a bigger home.

Greg dug out his architects 'sketches' that happily turned out to be a pretty robust set of plans that would result in ripping the roof off the garage and building a new second story on it."

Tom, Dave, Beth, and I sketched out our ideas for the enlarged kitchen, pushing it not only into the nearest garage bay, but also five additional feet into the patio space. Doing that, we could re-jig some of the second floor space over the existing kitchen, and create another bedroom and bath.

Tuesday evening, Bill and Debbie arrived for dinner and our 'free' consultation. Kate was positively glowing by the time they arrived. She'd made love with me, and been at least twice with every male in the house since she'd arrived three days earlier. While she seemed sex starved and on sexual adrenalin, she exuded love out of every pore, and her infectious happiness clearly influenced her parents. I also figured her to have nymphomaniac tendencies like the rest of the family's females.

I noted that as she kissed her mother and father that she ground her hips into each member of the family. Her sister Beth did too. I love families that love one another.

Before dinner, while we still had some exterior light, Tom, Greg, Beth, and I walked Bill around the house gesturing at what we wanted to do. Bill took notes on a clipboard and even made some sketches of his own.

In the garage Bill used a long piece of rebar and a sledge hammer to probe around the base of the columns that ran into the dirt floor; he told us he was trying to get a feel for the size of the footings. After that he climbed into the various attics of the house with a flashlight to get a feel for the construction over the garage and kitchen. Lastly, we spent a half hour with wine and cheese looking at the sketches Greg's architect had done as well as the ones some of us had done the day before.

Bill made some additional notes on his pad and then suggested we gather around. He spoke in a friendly manner to us, "Roughly, you want to add about 2,000 to 2,500 square feet of space. In round numbers, with all the finish work inside and out you'd be talking about close to $200,000 or more."

We all inhaled at the price. I knew it would break the bank, even with the new income we'd just added to the 'housed' family from Tara and Kate.

Bill said, "Don't panic. I know I can do better than that. For one, my estimate would include some standard kitchen cabinets and appliances, but you already have some of those, plus you might be able to capture some cabinets from Tara's employer when they renovate."

"Additionally, I have a vested interest in this family, so you'd get the family rate -- the two daughter rate, if you will. Plus, you all made me very happy at your party a week ago. I could get used to that." Debbie jabbed him in the ribs, but she was smiling and nodding.

"Last, you have some good footings under the garage and the roof consists of well built trusses. We can use both, literally raising the roof and building a new second story under it, then lowering the existing roof onto the new construction -- that'll save a lot."

"If you can let me use this work as filler for my crews over the winter, I think we can get the cost under $100,000. Moreover, I'm willing to finance the whole thing for you at zero percent interest as long as some of my kids are living here."

The whole family had stood around the table as Bill talked. We all looked at each other and nodded. Tom said, "Well, we just voted, and it looks like we have a deal. What do we need to do?"

Beth threw herself into her father's arms; "Oh, thank you Daddy." She showered him with kisses until Kate nuzzled in so she could have some of the action. I decided that looked interesting; I winked at Mar. She and I supplanted Beth and Kate, and then Linda and Fran replaced us in Bill's lap. Finally, Debbie slipped into her husband's lap and kissed him too.

Bill actually blushed.

It was a late dinner, but we were all happy about the pending disruption in the house as we added so much space. I knew the whole project would take nine months or more, but it would be so gratifying to be able to expand the family and be under one roof.

After dinner we made pairings and doublings for the night. Bill and Debbie had come prepared to stay overnight this time. Dave and Tom went off with Debbie. Beth and I spent the night with Bill. We wanted to be sure he was a happy contractor as well as a dedicated member of the family, even though he wasn't going to live with us.

Kate seduced Josh and Peter into a night of pleasure. Greg went off with Linda and Fran with a big smile on his face. I loved watching all my lovers go off with each other happy and smiling in anticipation.

*

We ran into a problem with the zoning board when Bill went to get the permits for the house. The property was zoned as either farm or residential "1" -- a rating that implied a single-family dwelling. The zoning czar thought we were really an apartment house or a hotel.

Six of us sat with glum expressions on our face as Bill shared his conversation with the zoning department that afternoon. He admonished us, the worst is that they want to come and see exactly what your living arrangements are now. How do you explain this -- how you live -- to someone like that? This guy's old school too."

"What'd you tell him? How'd you leave it?"

"He's coming here tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock to see for himself. He has the plans I've drawn up too."

"Do we need a lawyer?"

Bill was thoughtful for a moment. "This guy may be old school, but I think he's got a soft spot in his heart for the right story -- and maybe it's your story. I think a few of you should be here to talk to him about what you're doing. I'll be here too."

"Who?" Tom asked, as he looked around at the small group.

Bill said, "Tom, you seem to be the carrier of the philosophy, so you should be here to explain that to him; Ariel too, for the feminine voice. I think Beth should be here since she's my daughter, and it would link the project to my contracting work. Last, I think Greg should be here as the previous owner; he has some wonderful things to say about why he sold the house to you guys and what you did for Linda and him. With me here, that'll be five -- and that's enough. We don't want to over power him or he'll balk."

A day later, the five of us stood with Marcus Emerson as he examined the house one more time from the outside. It was a crisp autumn day, the kind that gives you an extra bounce to your step. Tom and Beth had given him a walkthrough of the house, pointing out the renovations we hoped to make as well as many of things that made us a family, including our eclectic collection of furniture.

Marcus had said almost nothing since his arrival other than 'Show me the house" prior to the walkthrough. Now he stood, feet in a firm stance and in connection with ground. He was in his sixties, a taciturn individual that clearly liked to think on things while others watched his internal deliberations.

"You say twelve of you live here now?" He asked.

Tom responded, "Yes. We are what one of my west coast friends calls an Intentional Family."

Marcus thought a minute and probed further, "Is that like a commune?"

I replied, "Yes, we also all love each other -- to be honest, we're sort of a group marriage."

Marcus studied me for at least a full minute. I think he was testing to see if I was telling the truth or hiding something from him. I resisted breaking eye contact with him, feeling that whomever quit first would be the loser of the decision pending about our property."

Marcus broke eye contact first. My 'inside me' did a little silent cheer. He said, "And you don't pay rent, right?"

I replied, "Right. We are all shareholders in the ownership of the house through a limited liability corporation that our family lawyer set up. We fund the corporation and the corporation pays off the purchase loan. A partnership of the residents handles the operating expenses. I could put you in touch with the lawyer if that would make your life easier. We'd pay the bill, of course."

"No, no," Marcus said. "That won't be necessary."

He was silent a long time and then he said to none of us in particular, "Forty years ago I fell in love with a woman my age -- her name was Misty. She wanted me to move into a commune with her; she loved the other people in it, and knew they loved her."

He let another long lapse of silence intervene. Tom looked like he was ready to say something to fill the space, but I gave him an evil stare that shut him up.