Rising From The Ashes

For my part I was pretty sure that Katey would be happy with Renee and Jeannie moving in with us. She and Jeannie were already as close as sisters and Renee had become her mother in every way except officially. My real worry is how Jeannie would take it. I was afraid that she would feel like we were dishonoring the memory of her father. We had decided that in the event that either or both girls objected we would not live together but we would continue to be committed to each other and would wait until we received their approval or until they graduated high school and went to college.

Once Katey and I got home I set to making us lunch while I listened to her excitedly tell me about their time at camp. It was obvious that both girls had a lot of fun. It was only an hour after we had finished eating that Katey finally wound down and I had a chance to talk to her about Renee and me.

"Katey, over the last year we have spent a lot of time with Renee and Jeannie. It's like we have become a family." Katey looked at me and nodded in agreement. "Well, while you girls were at camp Renee and I had a lot of time to talk things over and we thought that maybe it was time that we actually were one."

"What does that mean, daddy?"

"It means that I would like to have Renee and Jeannie come live with us. When the time is right I want to make Renee my wife but we will only do that if both you and Jeannie are in agreement with this."

Katey squealed and jumped up excitedly and rushed over to hug my neck. "Oh daddy, I think that would be wonderful. Jeannie will really be my sister then and I already love Renee like a mother. I've got to call Jeannie."

"Whoa there pumpkin. Hang on for a minute. Renee is going to talk to Jeannie about this. She might not see things the same as you do so I think it would be best if you wait until we know how she feels about it, okay?"

Katey pondered what I had said for a minute and then gave me a knowing smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Okay daddy. I'll wait."

The wait wasn't too long for in less than twenty minutes the house phone rang. Caller I.D. said it was Renee so I quickly answered. She told me that Jeannie wanted to talk to Katey but wouldn't say anything more. Nervously I handed the phone to my daughter and she ran off to her bedroom to talk in private. I am used to how long teenagers can spend talking on the phone and as time passed it proved that this was not going to be an exception. My nerves were pretty frayed after an hour had passed. Suddenly Katey ran from her room and out the front door. All I heard was what sounded like happy squealing and before I could get to the door Katey came back in with Jeannie.

The two teenagers bounded across the room and I was quickly being hugged by two bubbly girls. I then looked up to see a smiling Renee coming through the door carrying two suitcases. Just as quickly as I had been the center of their hugs the two girls broke away and ran to Renee and grabbed the suitcases and disappeared upstairs. I just stood there with my mouth open until Renee walked over and tried to shove her tongue down my throat. I moaned and returned her kiss.

"I take it everything went as well as we could have hoped for?" I asked once we came up for air.

"Apparently our daughters had already talked about this happening and were all for it. They were just waiting for us to realize we wanted it too," she said with a laugh.

We went out to dinner that night to celebrate the joining of our families and spent Sunday making several trips to Renee's house to bring the rest of their belongings to their new home. Renee and I discussed what to do with her house and decided that she would sell it. The real estate market was pretty hot so she got a nice profit for it. She offered to have it deposited in a joint account but I had a better idea and we put into a savings account that Jeannie would use for college. I felt that James would be happy knowing that he was providing for his daughter's education.

Life for the next year was wonderful even if I was living in a home where I was outnumbered three to one by females. They seemed to always get their way ninety nine per cent of the time but it made me happy to make them happy. On the rare occasion I was in total disagreement they would accept my decision. Also my sex drive had returned in spades and I could rarely keep my hands off Renee. For her part she was my slut and did everything she could to keep me satisfied.

There was also a big upside to the award I had received in that it led to many requests that I build homes for people. As such my business grew to where I would often have as many as ten houses under construction at one time. In order to keep up with the load Renee took to working in the field and we had to hire another person to handle the work in the office. I left the hiring up to Renee as she really was the most qualified in knowing what had to be done.

Renee and I married the next spring following the time they moved in. We kept the wedding informal and invited only a small group of select friends. Shelley was Renee's bridesmaid and Keith was my best man. I took Renee to Fiji for a week long honeymoon. We even managed to tear ourselves away from the bedroom to see the sights.

It was shortly after we joined our household that Katey began to call Renee mom. I was happy that they had bonded so well. As for Jeannie it wasn't until just after her seventeenth birthday that she called me dad for the first time. I don't even remember what it was she wanted but I vividly remember when I told her okay that she kissed me on the cheek and said, "Thank you, daddy."

That simple token brought tears to my eyes and when I looked at Renee her eyes were glistening with happiness too. Of course in my mind both Katey and Jeannie were my daughters and I loved them equally. As emotional as that was it was surpassed many times over a couple of weeks later. Renee was out shopping and I was at home with the girls when they came in and sat down. I knew from the looks on their faces that something was up and it looked to be serious.

"Daddy, I'm your daughter and you love me, don't you?" Katey asked.

"Of course I do, baby," I answered while wondering what I was being set up for.

"Well I think that you love Jeannie like me too, right?" she continued.

I glanced quickly at Jeannie who was obvious very nervous but watching me intently. "You both know that I love you both equally."

"Then how come you haven't adopted her so that you're really her daddy and my sister?" Katey asked.

To say I was stunned would be and understatement. I turned to Jeannie. "Honey, there is nothing more in this world I would rather do than to make you my legal daughter. Would you like me to adopt you?"

The tears began to flow from her eyes and her chin was quivering. "Yes daddy, I really would."

Now the tears began to flow from my eyes and I held my arms open and she flew into them. Renee arrived home just then to find Jeannie in my lap with both of us crying. Before she could ask what was going on Katey went to her and started whispering in her ear. Renee set her bags down and came rushing over and now there were three of us hugging and crying tears of joy. I looked up to Katey and saw her crying to so I held out one hand for her. Our bond as a whole family was completed that afternoon.

From the ashes of two tragedies in the the lives of two families had come a renewal of love and hope. Life was good.