Two Teachers

"Well I haven't been to our Bisbee Law offices lately. What's a good day for you?"

I replied, "Any day after three, but if you want Becky's Grandma with us, it will have to be a Tuesday."

"Good, next Tuesday then."

Next Tuesday, we all packed ourselves into the F-250 crew cab at two o'clock. Only my last hour of class had to have someone to watch them, since kindergarten, first and second grades got out at two, the new kindergarten teacher took over my classroom class. (I wondered if my kids could color inside the lines) Our head teacher arranged it all.

We walked into Uncle George's Bisbee offices, and we were treated like royalty. We found out that the staff called my uncle 'St. George the dragon slayer.' Amanda laughed and told them what her father said those years back, "But, he is a sweetheart."

When Uncle George heard that, said to Amanda, "Don't repeat that in public, I have a reputation to keep up."

Uncle George talked to grandma first in the conference room. When he walked out of the office's conference room an hour later, one of the paralegals handed him some papers and he motioned for us to come in. Becky was as fidgety as could be; one of the secretaries asked her if she wanted to go get some juice in the break room. Becky found a new friend that day.

Uncle George said, "Steve, Amanda, Beth these agreements are fantastic for everyone, but most of all, Becky. The trust will pay Steve and Amanda two percent." Turning to us, "Beth would not accept anything lower."

Back to Beth, he continued, "Beth, if you trust me, I'll have the paperwork done by tomorrow, and have it delivered to all of you. Since I am doing this at the family rate, otherwise pro bono, I expect an invite to all birthday parties, a few BBQs, etc. You know, the regular family stuff."

Family life

School was going well for all three of us.

One time, Becky tried to push some limits at school, and Amanda grounded her at home. Becky whined to me about it, and I said, "Hey, she's your mom, not mine."

Beth moved her hours around sometimes at the Bar to babysit Becky, to give us some adult time once in a while.

One morning, just after New Years, Amanda seemed out of sorts. After school, she drove with Beth to the next town, and was home within an hour. She disappeared for about fifteen minutes; then she came into the den where I was watching some sports on TV.

She said, "We need to talk."

As I turned off the TV, I tried to think, 'What did I do wrong?'

"Do you think Becky would like a little brother, or sister?"

"Well, sure we can make it happen, do you want to get started on it?"

Amanda said, "We already have started! I am pregnant!"

That floored me. Thus, we started our family expansion. The baby was due August first. Our summer vacation would be interesting. My dad warned me with a big smile, "Watch out for the last three months of pregnancy! By the way, we will be in San Diego, May, June, July."

A horse and more for Becky

A horse rescue called one day, and asked if we could foster a couple or so horses, since we had a twelve-stall horse barn; all feed and veterinarian costs were provided by the rescue. All we had to do was supply T.L.C. and a barn for three years and the horses were ours. I wondered if this was grandma's doing. Becky thought she was the luckiest six-year-old in the world.

Amanda, myself, and a couple of neighbors cleaned out the barn. One of my students parents were ranchers, and heard that we were taking in the rescue horses; they pulled in with truckload of straw for bedding for free! The horse rescue truck and trailer pulled up three days later with one dapple-grey gelding, and one very pregnant mare... with a year-old, black Labrador. The two wranglers from the rescue said the dog was best friends with both horses, that neither horse would get in the trailer without him. The jet-black mare was named Molly, and the gelding was named, Quicksilver. The dog was called Bud.

Bud saw Becky and ran over to her and sniffed, licked, wagged his tail and then lay down at her feet and rolled over. As soon as he got his belly rub, he jumped up, and went over to the trailer to help get the horses out. Bud escorted the two horses down the trailer ramp and into the barn. One of the wanglers asked, "Do you want the dog, too?"

I looked at Amanda and she said, "It's okay with me."

I turned to the wranglers and gave a nod. They grabbed a big bag of dog food and smiled.

I said, "You knew we'd say yes."

The head wrangler said, "Well, the boss said you were good people."

The other wangler said, "We ain't never seen Bud accept anyone like he did your little girl."

The horses had been seized for neglect. It took a while to get Molly and 'Silver to warm up to people. It took a lot of apples, carrots and peppermints to get them to come to me. Bud had to watch me with Becky, before he accepted me into the 'pack.' After the animals realized who was feeding them, I became the alpha of the pack.

Now, we were becoming a real western family. A husband, a wife, a daughter, a ranch (okay, a ranchette), fifteen acres, a horse barn, two horses, a foal on the way, and a big, black dog.

I said to Amanda, "Hon, you should get yourself a gingham dress to go with--" I got the 'LOOK.' I laughed and hurried out the door, to avoid any flying dish towels or the such.

Bud became Becky's shadow. No one messed with Becky when Bud was around. Every day, Bud would wait on the front porch and after we left for school, he would run to the barn or corral and play all day with the horses, until he heard the car coming through the front gate. Then, he would run and take his place on the front porch, sitting down like he was there all day. Then he'd be back to being the family's protector.

Dr. Lynda, the veterinarian, had told us what to do to prepare a maternity stall for the arrival of the foal.

One day, Bud came running out of the barn as we got home, turning around and racing back to the barn, then turning back to us, and back again to the barn. Amanda and I looked at each other, and yelled, "Molly!" Amanda ran to the barn, and I called Dr. Lynda and the horse rescue.

When I entered the barn, Amanda looked at me with a worried look on her face and said, "Molly is in distress." Bud was in the ready position. Quicksilver was alert. Becky climbed up on the stall divider. Just then, we heard a truck pull up to the barn, it was Dr. Lynda. She had a call at the next ranch and dropped everything and came right over.

Bud went to the barn door; he did everything but grab the vet's hand leading her to the 'maternity' stall.' Dr. Lynda had us do the equine equivalent of 'go boil water.' After a few minutes, Dr. Lynda told us the foal was breech, and that she might need help. She said she wanted Mandy's help first, I was the back up. Dr. Lynda did her veterinarian magic with Amanda's help. I helped by staying out of the way. Once Dr. Lynda was able to turn the foal, we had a 'baby horsey' in less than twenty minutes, to Becky's giggling delight. Amanda and I looked at each other, and said, "...forgot she was here."

I said to Amanda, "You get to answer the questions!"

Molly kicked into 'momma mare' mode immediately. Dr. Lynda and Amanda helped Molly a little. When it was all done, both Dr. Lynda and Amanda sat down and wiped their brows and let out a satisfied sigh. The foal was a colt with a star on his forehead, so Becky named him Star.

Being the guy that I am, I asked jokingly, "Dr. Lynda, will you be available August 1st? There will be a birth around that time that might be needing your help." I was looking at Amanda at the time. I almost got hit by the towel thrown by Amanda.

Becky asked, "Oh, Dr. Lynda, you could help mommy?"

The women stopped and looked at Becky. I used that as a distraction to run out of the 'maternity' stall.

I heard Amanda yell, "You have to answer that question!"

Baby

The town found out we were expecting, I do not know how they found out, I only told about four or five guys at the bar; who knew drunks could remember, oh yeah, Grandma Beth was vocally excited at the bar, too.

I went to all the doctor appointments. During one Friday appointment, I was shocked when Amanda asked the doctor about sex while pregnant. I was at the appointment in a supporting role only, but the doctor looked at me. All I could do was blush and shrug my shoulders. I hadn't asked her to ask. We (me) had curtailed some of our lovemaking because I thought I'd hurt Amanda, or maybe the baby. I was first, a man; second, in my middle twenties; and third, I never had been pregnant, how should I know?

The doctor said, "Sex during pregnancy should be perfectly safe."

On the way home, I asked Amanda why she asked the doctor about sex.

She said, "Just because I am pregnant doesn't mean I stopped being a woman who needs her husband's powerful hard co--"

"You can stop right there. Yes, I will make love to you anytime you want, you don't have to stroke my ego."

With a sexy twinkle in her eye she said, "That's not what I want to stroke!"

I almost changed lanes without moving the steering wheel, if you know what I mean.

That night when we finished tucking Becky in, we broke two land speed records getting to the master bedroom. I took off my clothes and entered the bathroom, did my business, and jumped in to the shower. I heard the bathroom door close as Amanda came in.

I asked Amanda if she checked to see if the bedroom door was locked.

"You bet I did," was her reply. I heard the toilet flush and the shower door opened and my lovely, sexy, seductive, sultry, shapely, red-haired, five-foot-one, hot wife stepped in. There is just something about lathering up the woman you love in a shower. Lovingly washing all her parts and the tender ones, too. After we washed each other, we just let the water flow all over us. I kissed her breasts, caressed her labia, and stroked my fingers in and out of her pussy. I knelt down in the shower and let my tongue do the caressing of her clit. She had an explosive orgasm. I had to stand up to hold onto her because her knees got weak. I held her until she was stable, and then she knelt, took my cock in her mouth and caressed my balls until I shot load after load of cum in her mouth, on her chin, and down to her breasts.

We stayed in the shower until the water started to get cold. (Did I say I replaced the water heater to a larger size?) We dried each other off, and climbed into bed we embraced and fell asleep in each other's arms.

The alarm went off at five o'clock.

Amanda said, "Go do your morning guy ritual and get your shorts on."

"Why?"

"Did you forget who is sleeping down the hall and wakes up before us on the weekends?"

Sure enough, almost exactly at seven, Becky came creeping into our bedroom and jumped up on the bed saying, "Mommy, daddy I'm hungry."

I grabbed Becky and Amanda and started to tickle both of them. I looked at our bed and called, "I'm making breakfast, you make the bed," and ran to the kitchen. I can't do fitted sheets to save my life, that's my story and I am sticking to it.

Both of my girls came down to breakfast giggling, Becky said, "Mommy says you can't make as good a breakfast as she does."

I had cheated, I knew both of my girls favorite breakfasts. Amanda loved French toast and Becky loved waffles. The last time Amanda made French toast and waffles, I cleaned up the table. I put some of the leftovers away in the freezer and labelled them 'fish' with the date of my last fishing trip. Today, I put them in the microwave and had their breakfast hot and on the table by the time my two favorite girls came into the kitchen.

Both of my girls said, "How did you make them so fast?"

"That's dad's secret." I had put the waffle Iron and the pan in the sink "soaking" to complete my ruse.

Becky's tree

As the end of the school year approached, we decided to plant a tree for Becky and one when the baby was born. We found the oldest Aleppo Pine for sale in the state, and we called the nursery. They said it was close to Becky's age, it just never got sold, and if we wanted to take it off their hands, they would sell everything needed to plant for a big discount, just pick it up, but no guarantee.

We planted it and named it Becky's tree. Becky watched and checked off the watering schedule we made for her. It lived!

That summer

As the summer progressed, Amanda seemed to be handling the negative parts of being pregnant well, she did not kill me.

When we found out our baby's gender, we named her Deborah Georgina Muir to match Becky's, Rebecca Lynn Muir.

When the end of July came, Amanda seemed just as cool as could be; I was on pins and needles. Becky would talk to Deborah in Amanda's tummy, then would rub her mother's shoulders; she would be a great big sister. Thank God for air conditioning, and school being out for the summer, this househusband thing is hard to do (Just because it wasn't my domain, remember the Chiricahua Mountains?).

When we hit the first of August, Amanda was ready to bring Deborah into the world. We booked a room at the Comfort Inn in Sierra Vista, just two miles from the hospital on the first of August, and Amanda's parents and my parents chipped in to pay for it, since our town was fifty miles on the then-not-paved Gleeson Road. Deborah was not ready until the fifth of August.

It turned out to be an easy delivery (I didn't know what was easy, but I was told it was). Amanda actually said, "Is that all there is?" (Yes, she had an epidural). I drove home and relieved grandma. Becky and I stayed home the next day, and early the following morning, Becky and I drove back to the hospital and picked up Becky's little sister, Deborah, and mommy up. Grandma Beth had got some ladies from the community to do some housekeeping at our house; it did not need it, but it was nice to see when we got home. We planted Deborah's tree, a seedling, and now both trees hold up my hammock.

School for Mom

She made a lot of computer presentations so the sub could use them. She wrote full lesson plans for the time she was out. Since Becky was in her class of first and second graders again. She was Amanda's eyes and ears. Many of the students in other classrooms sent her get well cards. There was a daycare a block from the school and they loved having Deborah. It was a boost for them to say they had a teacher's child enrolled.

Since we had a four-bedroom house, we had a master bedroom, two rooms for the girls and one room is our office and gym, gym being the operative word.

Amanda went into self-repair mode. She started with postpartum exercises, she started to eat good food (she made me eat it, too), she was ready to be back in the classroom by the twentieth of September.

Twenty-two years later

Our girls, both graduated top of their class. Instead of going to either ASU or UofA, the girls decided to go to Northern Arizona University, NAU, I think it was so they didn't have to take sides during the football season.

But alas, about every three years, one of our schools plays NAU.

Today

Our girls are teachers, but picked Phoenix to teach in. I am now the principal of the school; it did get a little bigger. Amanda and I have been in education for twenty-nine years, and next year we will be retiring.

We have never gone to bed angry. The one time when we had a 'fight', Amanda took off her clothes, and we almost got caught by the girls.

The girls have given us a grandson each, so far.

We still camp in the Chiricahua Mountains, but now we use a Class B RV. You can't get very far into the mountains, but we reenact our first camping trip every time we go.

The End

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