Farm Girl: Bounties Innumerable

Compton sat silent for a long moment. His eyes never left Allan's face.

"I expect you have a family picked out for this burden, Mr. Fitzgerald."

Allan swallowed. "I do, sir. My own. My wife Katherine and I operate a small farm of our own. It's right across route 231 from your late cousin's spread. We would be honored to have Nat and Cal come to live with us, and we would accept complete responsibility, legal, financial, and moral, for their care."

Compton rose, ran his fingers through his shock of gray-blond hair, and went to the west-facing window to stare at the fields and the trees beyond. The afternoon was well worn, but the sun was far from setting. Allan wondered whether he had any chance of making it back to Kate before midnight.

How is she doing with her end of things? Conway seemed capable enough, but I hate it that so much is happening with us so far apart.

"Mr. Fitzgerald," Compton said, "are you a religious man?"

"I am. Catholic."

"And your wife?"

"The same."

It appeared to satisfy Compton. "I have to do something first," he said.

"Sir?"

"You seem decent enough, for a lawyer," Compton said, "but this is something that deserves a spot of reflection." He looked at the teens. "Mind if I take these two off by ourselves for an hour or so? You're welcome to my hospitality meanwhile."

Allan rose. "Nat, Cal, please accompany your uncle. I promise I'll be here when you get back." He smiled. "Really."

The teens rose. "Yes, sir," Nat said.

Compton packed Nat and Cal into his Buick and rattled off to the west, with the sun dipping ever lower as Allan watched.

It was more than three hours later that the old Buick pulled back into the driveway. Throughout the interval, Allan had rigidly refrained from thinking about what was transpiring. His cell phone refused to connect him to Kate. When he heard the rumble of the ancient six-cylinder engine, he opened the bungalow's front door and stood there watching as it came to a stop and its passengers emerged. Nat and Cal stood by the car waiting for one of the adults to issue directions.

Elias Compton rose to the occasion. "Boys," he said, "go on in and freshen up. There's apple juice in the fridge. Glasses are in the cupboard over the sink. Mr. Fitzgerald, might I have a word with you out here?"

Allan nodded. "Certainly, sir." He stepped down onto the packed-clay walk and moved aside to let the teens past.

He and Compton waited silently for the boys to shut the door behind them.

"They're nearly men," Compton said.

"They are, sir."

"Call me Elias, Mr. Fitzgerald. I'm not one for formality."

"Then I'm Allan, if that's agreeable."

"It is." Compton's gaze moved to the expanse of fallow field to the east. "You're a Navy man, aren't you?"

"Hm? I mean, yes, I was. For four years. How'd you know?"

"The look." Compton grinned. "That thousand-yard stare. A sailor never quite loses the look, no matter the years. Which vessel?"

"The Roosevelt."

"A worthy boat," Compton said. "Mine was the Kennedy. Spent a couple of seasons in Hell painting, cleaning cannon, and patrolling the eastern Mediterranean. You?"

"Southeastern Pacific. China Sea duty, mostly."

"Protecting the Chinese from the Chinese, eh? God's little joke on America." Compton cocked an eyebrow at him. "The boys think well of you. They're practically in love with your wife."

Allan grinned. "Can't fault their taste in women."

"Got no problem with that?"

"None. Kate can handle them. She'd better be able to. She's the reason for all this."

"Her idea, eh?"

"Yep."

Compton nodded. "Women are like that. Just as long as you're okay with it." He waved at his house. "I can't keep 'em. I've got no room, and I live on about five bucks a week. We'd drive one another crazy before Hallowe'en."

"I understand. So what's it to be?"

"The way you said." Compton faced him squarely, arms crossed over his chest. "I'll take Art's spread and hold it until they're of age. Any liens on it?"

"None."

"What about property taxes?"

"As long as it lies unused, minimal. Anyway, I'll be happy to cover them until you sell it or the boys are grown. If you sell it, I'll expect to be paid back."

Compton's eyebrows rose. "Got the papers for a fostering agreement with you?"

"I do. Are you sure you want to do it this fast, Elias?"

"Fast? You got here four hours ago."

Allan chuckled. "That's all you need to be sure of me?"

"Allan," Compton said, "what do you think we were off doing? I took us to church. I kept us on our knees for over an hour. Then I took the boys to town and put burgers and malteds in front of them. I let them chow down, and then I grilled them." He shook his head wonderingly. "I can't quite grasp it, but I can't doubt it either. What you want is what they want. To make a family with you."

Allan felt himself relax all over. The tension he'd endured had been so pervasive that he nearly collapsed as it dissipated.

"Shall we make it official," he said, "so I can get us back to my wife?"

"We shall," Compton said. "You hungry at all?"

"I can wait. And by the way, Elias," Allan said, "you're welcome at our place

whenever you choose to visit, and for however long you choose to stay."

Elias Compton's expression didn't change in any way a photographer would have been able to capture. But Allan could swear that the weathered features had begun to glow.

"You should be careful about extending open-ended invitations like that, Allan."

"I am, Elias," Allan said. "Always."

He put out his hand, and Compton took it.

As Allan opened the door to his home, Kate flew to him and wrapped her arms around him. The boys edged carefully past them and went at once to their rooms.

"It's done," he said.

"Everything?"

Allan nodded. "Elias Compton now has formal title to Art's place, and we are officially Nat and Cal's foster family. So what did the day bring over here?"

She giggled against his chest. "CWP sent this absolute harpy. She came here -- no warrant -- and demanded that I let her search the place for the boys. Practically stuck her hand down my pants. Had a sheriff's deputy with her, too. Conway's men kept them at bay. The bitch screamed at me that she'd be back with a warrant in an hour. So Conway's men made sure that wouldn't happen."

"How?"

"A cell phone jammer."

"Huh? Aren't those illegal?"

She leaned back and leered at him. "I won't tell if you won't."

"Well, what then?"

"They got in the deputy's cruiser and tried to drive off where there's better reception."

"Tried?"

She nodded. "It's pretty hard to do with two shredded tires. Conway's boys are very good shots. As a courtesy, I used our land line to call a tow truck for them. I might have told the operator not to hurry. I'm not sure I recall. Anyway, by the time they were on the road again, it was well past five."

Allan convulsed in laughter. "Game, set, and match. How I wish I'd been here to see it!"

"Just let's try not to need the services of the sheriff's department for a couple of years, okay?"

"That shouldn't be too hard." He caressed her back and shoulders. "Well, with the foster agreement in place, we can send Nat and Cal back to school as always."

She shook her head. "Let's not."

"You really want to homeschool them?"

"Why not? They'll get a better education that way, and besides, it would give us more time to make a family out of us."

"And," he said, looking levelly into her eyes, "it would give us two more pairs of hands to work the farm, wouldn't it?"

"Well, yeah. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Not as long as they don't."

"I don't think they will," Kate said. "They've asked me several times if they could work with us."

"They have?"

She nodded. "This isn't just where they want to be, Allan. It's also what they want to do."

"But is it what you want to do?"

"Well, not right this moment."

"Hm?"

"We didn't make love last night, Allan."

"Oh! How right you are. So?"

"Isn't that what husbands and wives do? To make a family, I mean?"

"Ha! Well, yes, but usually that comes before the babies arrive."

She ran a hand down his torso and caressed his member through his pants. He became erect at once.

"They're pretty big babies," she said. "I'd say we have some catching up to do."

"Shall we get to it, then?"

"Let's do that."

Afterword: No, this story isn't terribly erotic or sexual. Apologies. So many Literotica readers have emailed me, asking for the conclusion to Allan and Kate's story, that I felt I had to oblige, even if the last segment isn't erotica by the prevailing standards. Forgive me, please.

All my best,

Fran