Leaving the Navy Ch. 10

"No shit? You told them about me?"

"Yup. You'll like both of them, I think. They own a business near where I live and they're doing Ok. Right age group and healthy in body and attitude."

"How do I get there?"

"Get a GPS in your truck and I'll give you our address. You just follow directions and Mr. Thompson, you'll be here in two days."

"So, I'll see you in twenty days!"

We talked about some of the other guys I knew and I got the line on all of them. Scnowski had died in surgery. Blake had gone home in a wheelchair and committed suicide. Williams had gone back to active duty and was on a sub chaser in the Atlantic. Nurse Wilcox transferred to Italy and got married after she got there. I gave Mike our address and phone number as well as email.

At dinner I told everyone that a friend of mine was coming for a visit. Della asked if he would be meeting Donna and Bette. I smiled and she did too. We explained to the sisters. Mark wanted to know if he was getting a new Dad. I said no, but he was getting an uncle. Sam explained what an uncle was.

After dinner that night I went back to my office and Sam followed. She crawled into my lap. It's strange how each of the women in my life like it in my lap. They are each different sizes and each fits perfectly. She snuggled in and sat still for a few moments. I waited. I had learned that each of these women will tell me what they want me to know if I wait. Prying doesn't work nearly as well.

"Daddy Nick, are you going away?"

"For a weekend."

"Uncle Mike, isn't..."

"No, he isn't coming so I can go away. He's coming because he's my friend and he has no family. He's sort of like I was when I met all of you. He's all alone. I want to introduce him to friends and maybe he'll stay and live near here."

"Sure?"

"Sure." She scooted off my lap, kissed my cheek and ran from the room. I felt my eyes fill. Sam needed my reassurance. Sandra poked her head in and said, "Sam just came to me and said not to worry. You promised not to go away."

There were tears in her eyes too.

That weekend I worked on what used to be Jim's room. With the assistance of the color committee and the décor committee I turned his room into a guest room. I made sure it was masculine enough that a salt could stay there without feeling too girly. I didn't want Mike to move in, but I did want him comfortable. Jim's bed went into Mark's room. The smaller bed he had been sleeping on went in the trash. He told everyone in the family that he was grown up enough to have Jim's bed. Another big step towards manhood.

I called Bette and Donna and told them about Mike. I gave them a date when we would come to visit. Donna asked, "Should we get waxed?"

I laughed and said I really didn't know. "Maybe you should wax just one side?"

Then we all laughed.

Every Sunday at three the phone rang in my office. The first time I was there alone and had to relay the information over and over. I also caught a bit of hell for not asking all the right questions. The second time I had everyone in my office. I put the call on speaker phone and we talked to Krystn and Jim together. We still repeated the call to each other but no one was angry with me for not asking something.

They were doing great. Krystn was becoming a ranch wife and loved it. They talked about the mountains, the animals, the way food tasted different in Montana. All my wives cried during the call. Jim spoke of everything he was learning and how good the Whitcoms were to both him and Krystn.

The Sunday before Mike was to arrive the phone rang and we had our family talk. When it ended the whole family sat in my office for a few minutes and talked some more. Pat stood first and when she turned towards the door my phone rang again. She sat back down. I answered. We were still on speakerphone.

"Nick?" It wasn't Jim.

"Yes," I said.

"This is Brian Whitcom. I want to tell you about your son and daughter. I have been ranching and growing men and women on this ranch for many years. I'm impressed. They both work hard. They act more like adults than any of the young people I've ever had here on the ranch. You and their moms have every right to be proud."

"Thank you." We said, in unison.

"Am I talking to the whole family?"

"Yup." I said.

"Good. I'm giving Jim a raise this week. He has taken to ranching like he did it in a past life or something. He surprises me almost every day. I've got two other men working with us who have grown up on ranches and Jim knows what to do without asking or being told. But, that's not really why I called."

Sandra spoke: "Why did you call?"

"I want to invite you all to come for Christmas and stay a few days. We know how many there are of you and we have room. We built a new bunkhouse this year and you can have the old one as your guesthouse, if you'll come."

"Thank you for the invitation. We'll need to talk it over and do some calculations before we answer but, I, for one would like to accept." I said.

"Can I call you Nick?"

"Sure."

"Nick, I know no one else is listening right now so I can say this to you, man to man. I think Jim and Krystn are getting married between Christmas and New Years. They haven't said so but my sources tell me they talked to a minister in town on their day off last week."

No one in my office was breathing. I thanked him for sharing that with me and we ended the call. When the click was heard the room erupted with everyone talking at once.

Ten minutes later it was still chaos. I slapped my desk and it got quiet.

"I recommend we sit with what we know and think we know and have a family meeting tomorrow night. The question on the table will be, 'Do we go to Montana for Christmas?" Arguing about weather they should get married is a lot like arguing about weather Pat should give birth. She will. They will do what they, as adults, choose to do. Our choice is weather we are there when it happens."

Sandra looked me in the eyes and said, "I want to argue about it!"

"Ok. Invite anyone who wants to argue about it to your kitchen and go argue. I'm not interested in an argument." I motioned with my hands and shooed them out of my office.

I called Mr. Whitcom back on Tuesday and told him we would be happy to come for Christmas. By email we exchanged Christmas lists and the women talked about the celebration, gifts, food and things. I made travel arrangements. We would fly to Butte and the Whitcom's would pick us up. I volunteered to rent a van for us but he said it had been a long time since I drove with snow on the road so maybe it would be safer if they did the driving.

I had trouble admitting he was right, but he was.

Mike pulled up to our gate a couple days later. It was after Mark and Sam were home from school and Mark flew into the house screaming that a truck was at our gate. I hurried out and opened the gate. Mike looked good in something besides hospital clothes. I pointed him to a good parking place and met him as he got out of the truck.

We hugged. It started as a typical man to man hug of three point two seconds and it became a longer reconnection hug. He slapped my back a few times and I slapped his good shoulder twice. We got his suitcase and went into Margie's house. That's where the guest room was. Margie let us get there and get him in before she arrived with two beers and her smile. I introduced them and she sat with us for a few minutes. She said she needed to do some things before dinner, kissed us both and left us alone.

Mike liked Margie. He asked about her and about the houses, the family and the kids. I asked about his thinking about the future. He sounded a lot like I would have sounded before I met Della and Margie on a campout.

We wandered to Sandra's house and sat in my office after a short tour. Mark came to visit us. He looked Mike over pretty carefully and said, "He looks a lot like you Daddy. Is he your brother?"

"In a way, yes."

"You aren't going away?"

"No. I'm your Dad forever."

"Ok." He put his hand out to Mike and they shook hands.

Mark looked at me and said, "He's strong. I like him."

Mike thanked him and Mark was gone. A few minutes later Sam came in and was introduced. She had a book in her hands and she asked Mike if he liked to read.

"Yes. I read a lot when I was in the hospital."

She showed him the book, "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. "Have you read this one?"

"Nope."

She crawled into his lap and got comfortable, opened the book to the start of her favorite part and said, "Read to me please."

He read, we laughed and when the tale ended Sam kissed him, said "Thanks" and flew from the room.

"Are they always like that?"

"The day I met them Mark didn't speak. He crawled into my lap a few times, sat for a minute each time and then left to play some more. The next day he and I went to the men's room to get washed up and he asked, "Are you gonna be my Dad?"

"I think I would have teared up."

"I did."

Sandra walked in with iced tea. We accepted it and she was introduced. Mike asked good questions and barbed ones aimed at making me uncomfortable. Sandra laughed and told Mike she and her sisters loved me without reservations. Then she said she had some things to get done before dinner and she left us.

Mike saw the eight sided die on my desk and asked about it. I explained it and he said, "So Margie has a bedroom, Sandra has a bedroom, the other two women have bedrooms, I have a bedroom and you don't?"

"Yup. And in nineteen months I haven't been on the couch or floor once."

"Damn!"

"Want to see the other house?"

"Ok. I think I have digested what I've seen, so far." We walked out Sandra's back door and into Della's back door. Della was in the kitchen and the room smelled like Italian food. She turned and Mike said, "I don't know who you are but I sure know you can cook!"

She gave him a good hug, being careful of his shoulder and a kiss on his cheek. "Are all Navy men as smooth as you two?"

"No, you just got lucky." I answered. I introduced them and we sat in Della's kitchen for a little while. As they got to know each other I heard a car pull in.

Della said, "Pat's home. That means Mark will be here in a minute."

Della poured a cup of tea for Pat and put an extra pillow in the rocker. Pat came in, said Hi and dropped into the rocker. I had seen her at breakfast and she looked bigger than she did in the morning.

She looked at Mike, then at Della and me. "I went to the doctor this morning. They did an ultrasound. I have an announcement."

Della grabbed the phone and dialed. She said, "Come quick!" She hung up. She held up a hand and said, "Hold that thought. The family will be here in thirty seconds."

I looked at the kitchen clock and my eyes followed the second hand. Margie was last and it took forty-seven seconds. Pat looked around and said, "Do you want to know if Fido is a boy or a girl?"

Mike asked, "Fido?"

"I'll explain later, Mike." I said.

Mark said, "Fido is a boy!"

Everyone else said they wanted to know. Pat smiled and said, "We need to pick names for a boy and a girl. We're having twins!"

There were cheers, clapping, laughter and Mark said, "I get a brother. I get a sister too. We'll still be out numbered."

"Mark, someday you'll know that being out numbered by women is a good thing." Mike said.

"I get a brother."

"Yup." Mike answered.

Mike, Mark and I left the women to the inevitable discussion of pregnancy, birthing, infants and such that always follows an announcement like Pat's. We went to my truck and drove to the park. Mark went to the swings and we sat nearby and talked. Mark came back for a visit about every five minutes.

"So, tell me more about your family."

"Ok, Mike. Sandra and I are officially married. We got married after I met the whole family camping one weekend. I met Margie and Della and the kids first. We camped next to each other. Their oldest boy, Jim, met me first and then I met Mark. I was invited to dinner and by midnight I was hooked. Sandra and her daughter Krystn arrived the next day and by Sunday afternoon we had all decided that Sandra and I should get married, have a short honeymoon and move into the family."

"I didn't meet Jim or Krystn."

"They needed to get away from living with four Mommas and a Dad. I found them a place to go. My best bud from the Truman left a widow and she found Jim a job on a ranch in Montana. He found a way to take Krystn with him and we think they plan to get married around Christmas."

"Aren't they related?"

"Yes. Sandra is Krystn's Mom and Della is Jim's Mom. The Dads were not the same. They know all about the risks if they make babies and they have good heads on their shoulders. I have to admit, the thought of them being together all their lives and the risks bothered me, but they showed me they can and will handle whatever comes. I wish they'd wait a year or two but... they are adults."

"Wow! I don't know... this is a lot to take in. I grew up in a pretty traditional family."

"So did I. When I left the hospital I had one goal, visit Jenny, Jack's widow. Once I did that I was lost. I wandered around looking for something, not knowing what it was I was looking for. I didn't find it. It... they found me."

"And Pat is having your twins?"

"That's what she says. I mean I know the baby or babies are mine, I'm still letting it sink in that its twins."

"Were you married before?"

"You mean before I met the sisters? No. I was married to the Navy. I'd still be married to the Navy if the F-14 hadn't crashed like it did."

"I know what you're saying. Me too."

"So, you interested in an adventure like the Navy never offered?"

"The women you want me to meet?"

"Yes."

"I'm not even sure what questions to ask about them."

"Here's some of the basics. They are sisters, two years apart. They are about forty. In good shape physically and, from what I can tell, emotionally. They are bisexual. Together they own a nudist resort about two hours drive from here. The resort is less than an hour's drive from where I keep our houseboat docked. If it clicks they want you to move in and become their husband and partner. They aren't looking for a sugar daddy. I honestly believe they want someone who will love them, play with them, help with the resort and let them pamper him as he pampers them."

"What do they look like and why are they around forty and never married?"

"Both are about five six or seven. Not thin and not fat, healthy. I've had Donna on a massage table and I can tell you she is healthy. Good muscle tone and not from working out, from working. The resort they run is clean, well kept, so someone cleans the pools, the cabins and the grounds. They both have nice bodies to look at. As to why they aren't married... they were. Both are widows now. They stay that way I guess because when men came around and were interested until they realized the two came as a package. Inseparable."

"I can see how that would scare men off." His face said he might be one of those men.

"Look at it this way, there's only two of them. I've got four!"

"That F-14 damaged more than your knee! I think part of the tire hit your head."

"If it did I'm damn glad it did! My life has been more exciting, but never more enjoyable."

"Ok. When do I meet them?"

"Anytime you want. You can drive yourself up there and just check in, rent a cabin for a couple days and see how it goes. You can follow me up there and I'll introduce you. Take your pick."

"Let me think on it. Maybe by morning I'll know."

I called Mark, he jumped from the swing and we headed home. Half way home my cell rang.

"Yup."

"Dinner will be on the table in fifteen minutes."

"We're almost home. See you in five."

"You didn't take Mark to the DQ did you?"

"No, sweetheart. I want him to eat dinner. So we stopped at a pub and had a few beers."

"Great! Will the three of you need help walking?"

"Mike can carry Mark. I'll crawl inside and then we can eat."

"Sometimes, I want to strangle you!"

"Later tonight, Sweetheart. Later tonight."

I hung up. "You boys hungry?"

They both nodded and I told them the call was to tell us to get washed and to the table.

During dinner Mike asked Della about Donna and Bette. She told him pretty much what I had, but from her point of view. His question about why neither had re-married got the story of Della's marriage and of Margie's. Sandra added stories about the men who came sniffing and then ran.

Sam stayed quiet a long time and then asked Mike, "You looking for a wife?"

"Maybe."

"If you can wait till I'm older, I'd marry you."

"You would? You barely know me. Why would you marry me?"

"Daddy says you're one of his best friends."

Mike sat back in his chair, put his fork down and stared at Sam. There were a thousand words in what she didn't say and he was digesting them. So were the rest of us.

"Thank you, Sam. How long should I wait?"

"I need to graduate from high school and maybe college. But, it's Ok if you marry someone else first."

"Well, when you're ready, let's talk about it. Ok?"

"Sure! Does that mean you're my boy-friend?"

"Not yet. You need to be at least sixteen to have a boy-friend. It's Ok. I'll still be around."

"Good." She was done. She carried her plate to the sink and washed it.

Mike and I talked into the night with visits from wives and a reminder that I was to spend the night with Pat. I did. Margie led Mike to his room and offered to tuck him in. He wanted to know what that meant.

"It means I'll make sure your covers are pulled up and the lights are off. You are Nick's brother but not my husband. Sorry."

At breakfast Mike said he wanted to have me introduce him to Donna and Bette. He followed me to the resort and parked his truck next to mine by the office. I opened the door and stepped inside with Mike following. Bette looked up and smiled.

"You could have called. I'd have put on my fancy clothes if I'd known you were coming."

"You look pretty damn good to me." I said. We hugged and I introduced Mike. She hugged him and asked if he knew the score.

"I think so. I'm here for a job interview. I can tell you right off that I'm not twenty, I've got a bum shoulder and I can do stuff but I'm not as strong as I once was."

She pointed us at chairs and we sat. "It's a little more than a job. Let me get my sister and we can talk." She pressed a button and I heard a bell ring somewhere outside. She got us some iced tea and Donna walked through the door. She smiled and said, "I'm so glad I shaved my legs this morning. Hi, I'm Donna."

Both women sat down.

"Mike thinks he's here for a job interview," Bette said.

"Ok. Let's talk. The interview will last three days. I want you to know exactly what we offer and what we expect. Is that fair?"

"So far."

"Ok. We own this resort. Two hundred acres of land, two swimming pools, two hot tubs, a club house, a small café, six cabins and this, the office and home. I'm a widow and so is my sister. We share everything. The job is this: help us run the place. Repair work, cleaning, sprucing up, running the office, and cooking if you can."

"I can do all that. I'm not a fancy cook but no one will die."

"The big part of the job is beyond all that. We want you to live with us and love us, like Nick loves his family."

"Just like that?"

"No. But I don't want to lie to you. I want you to stay here for three days and do whatever you and we do. At the end of the three days we'll talk. If we all can love each other and share the resort, you're in. If we decide it won't work, you can move on knowing we gave it a good shot."

"My suitcase is in my truck."

"Bring it in here." Bette said, "I show you where to stow your things."

I followed him out to his truck. "You didn't lie. They both are nice looking and I already like them. This could work."