Car 54
Chapter 41: Use Left Lane for Main Route

Copyright© 2005 by dotB

Romantic Sex Story: Chapter 41: Use Left Lane for Main Route - 'Car 54' is a road trip down memory lane with highs, lows, curves, detours, bumps and potholes. There are sunny days, stormy weather, bucking broncs, stock cars, love, angst, sports, farm life, car racing, arguing, fighting, as well as a near death experience or two. Read the story of a friendly guy and his family as he learns to handle love, life, and a dirt track stock car. Oh, it's not a stroke story, it's a convoluted romance.

Caution: This Romantic Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa   Fa/Fa   Teenagers   Romantic   NonConsensual   Drunk/Drugged   Slow  

I won’t go into the detail of what followed, but the mortgage on the McAdam home was life insured, so the girls had a place to live. On top of that, both Sam and Ann had life insurance policies. A specific sum wasn’t mentioned at the time, but Mr. Ambrose assured the girls that they wouldn’t need to find jobs in the near future. He also told them that if they wanted to get educations, their educational fees could easily be covered as well.

I know it was hard hearted of me, but I felt relieved and actually thought that the girls were a thousand percent better off now than they had been when their parents were alive. During the discussion, I was holding Sandy’s hand and Mom had one arm around each of the twins. I’m not sure how the twins took things, but Sandy was squeezing my hand so hard it hurt.

While Mr. Ambrose was still there, he asked Sandy if she wanted anyone to be designated as her agent while she was in the hospital. She indicated that she wanted Mom and me to do that if we would. I don’t know about Mom, but I didn’t feel that I could turn her down.

I stayed with Sandy as long as I could, but Mom, Dad and I had to get to the bank. From the time I left the hospital with them until I came back to see Sandy later that evening, the day passed in a blur. In that time, we’d gone to the bank and had signed several papers giving me control of Mile High Ranch’s operating funds, but I’d had to assume responsibility for its debts as well. At least the debts weren’t overwhelming and I’d known about them beforehand since Mom handled the books for Grampa Bender as well as those of our farm.

Then we’d had a short break for lunch with Uncle Tom, Aunt Alice and Wil. Afterward we’d gone to the funeral parlour and again met Mr. Ambrose who explained the McAdams’ wishes about burial.

After the arrangements for the funeral were done, Dad, Uncle Tom and Wil went with me as we walked around to the various businesses that Grampa Bender had dealt with. At each one, we talked to the owner or manager, explaining that Grampa Bender had asked me to take over management of Mile High Ranch, so from now on I’d be doing the purchasing and paying the bills. In some ways that tour of our local business connections was a very heady experience for me, in other regards that circuit of the main businesses in the town was a very sobering one. It was as we walked from one business to another that my new situation really sank in. I had control of hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital and assets. Not only that, but I also realized that if I wasn’t careful, I could lose a tremendous amount of money by making poor decisions.

I was almost overwhelmed by the time we took a break, going to the Chinese cafeteria for a cup of coffee and a chat. In some ways I felt like I’d been run over and abandoned to suffer, but Dad and Uncle Tom were doing their best to make me relax. Surprisingly, it was Wil that managed to relieve my tensions the most.

“Chris, I know just how you feel,” he grinned at me. “Maybe not quite, because you’ve got the whole damn ranch and all its assets on your mind, but I was thrown to the wolves the day after I turned eighteen.”

“Thrown to the wolves?”

“Yeah, these two took me around to all the same places that day and gave me full signing authority on all the farm accounts for the lower lease. Mostly, I try to keep a low profile and only buy things that we need, but I got stubborn once.”

“Oh, your truck?” I grinned.

“Yep,” he nodded his head and laughed uneasily. “Dad said it was a bad deal and tried to talk me out of it, but I was stubborn. You know what happened. The damn thing busted at the worst possible time, so Corinna and I got into hot water. Of course I made a couple of other bad decisions to put us there, but that’s beside the point. What I was trying to tell you, was that although my choices weren’t the best, the whole family backed me up. Then when I needed it, everyone helped me out of the hole I’d dug for myself. They’ll do exactly the same thing for you.”

Somehow what he said sank in far more than either Dad or Uncle Tom’s assurances had. Along with the relief of the tension, I still felt the weight of responsibility, just not as heavily as before.

None of them even mentioned that subject after that, almost as if they were letting me settle down and handle things on my own. Instead we discussed the McAdam girls and their situation. No matter what happened, our family was effectively larger by four members and we were uncertain exactly what would play out. Because of my involvement with Sandy, they kept turning to me for my opinion, but I had to admit that I was as much in the dark as they were. All I could really tell them was that Sandy and the twins had no love for the Mormon version of polygamy or the lifestyle that went along with it.

Since we were in a public place, no one mentioned the connection between Carissa and Jackie, but I know it was in the back of their minds, and I knew that I was going to get asked about it in the future. Right then I decided that it wasn’t my business and that I planned to answer any questions in as vague a manner as I could manage. I reasoned that I wasn’t positive about anything and I decided not to tell tales or to speculate. In fact, I felt slightly guilty about what I’d said before to Mom and Dad.

Then Dad completely astounded me. “You know, Chris, it might be an idea if you considered running in a septic system up at the cabin this year.”

“What?” I stared at him.

“Well, the way you seem to attract the girls to the ranch, I think an indoor bathroom up at the cabin might be called for, don’t you think?” Dad grinned as he teased me. “After all, it wouldn’t cost that much and it would certainly be easier on anyone looking after the place in the winter. While we were down at Borden’s Equipment, I happened to overhear Charlie Engels saying that he was short of work for his backhoes. I’ll bet we could have him there to dig any trenches that we’d need inside of a week.”

“But where would I put a bathroom?”

“In that old back porch, where else? Of course you’d have to beef up those temporary walls and while you were at it, you could add another bedroom to the back of the cabin.”

“But, it’s a log cabin, how do you add onto a log cabin?”

“Well, I’d ask an expert,” Uncle Tom smiled. “Jason Dumfries had a huge log cabin built just last year. We could ask him who he hired to do the job.”

“But what would Grampa Bender think of us building onto the cabin?”

“Since the first thing you want to do is put in a bathroom, I think he’d be tickled pink,” Dad laughed and reached out to drain his coffee cup. “Don’t you remember that dang bucket Toby had in the back porch, the one he used every winter?”

“But how about the cost?”

“You can certainly afford it this year. You should ask your mother about how much money you’ve made on the ranch since you moved up there. You sold more than three times as much hay as normal and, on top of everything else, since this was a poor year for hay production all over the province, you got high prices for it,” Dad shook his head and grinned. “So far this year you’ve added almost twice as much money to the general accounts as you’ve spent and almost all your bills are paid. That increase in funds even includes deducting the cost of the stock you bought.”

All I could do was stare at him in astonishment.

“Chris, why do you think Toby wants you to have control of the ranch? He was impressed by what you’ve done with the place and so are we. Mile High Ranch has never looked better. You’ve made money hand over fist in the last two months. You’ve handled yourself well in all cases. You’ve helped out a lot of people. You’ve even taken the time to relax and to race that stockcar of yours. Your mother and I are proud as punch about what you’ve done,” Dad reached out and grabbed my hand. “So, are we going to build you a bathroom, or not?”

“Uh, I guess so,” I managed to mumble, then I grinned. “It probably would be nice not to have to run outside in my skivvies every morning.”

That statement brought grins and laughter.

In the next few minutes we split up and headed off in different directions. Wil wanted to talk to the RCMP about what had happened in Calgary since he’d been along with the police when they’d talked to Sam McAdam’s brother. Dad was going to go talk to Charlie Engels about the trenching we’d need for the septic system and the footings for the addition to the cabin. Uncle Tom was going to try to contact Jason Dumfries. Meanwhile, I was heading back to the hospital to see Sandy and Lucille.

When I left that café I felt a lot better than I had when I walked in.

When I got back to the hospital, Sandy wasn’t in her room, and since I had no idea if Lucille was even in the hospital, instead of looking for them, I decided to visit Grampa Bender for a while. For one thing, I wanted to talk to him about adding onto the cabin. Still, when I got to Grampa Bender’s room, I wasn’t really surprised to find that both girls were visiting him. Lucille was again in the chair by his bedside and Sandy was sitting in a wheelchair.

“Well, good afternoon everyone,” I smiled as I came in the door.

“Hi Chris,” Sandy smiled, almost shyly. “We were just talking about you.”

“Oh, oh,” I grinned at her, then leaned down to hug her gently. “Do I get shot and put out of my misery now or are you planning to wait until later?”

“Oh, I think we’ll let you live,” Lucille piped up.

“I dunno why, but these gals has got a higher opinion of ya then I do,” Grampa Bender grinned and winked at me.

“Do you mean I’m not in trouble?” I winked back.

“Not yet, but since ya bin out runnin’ ‘round town, whatta ya done now? Rescued anybody else?”

“No, no rescues, just business and a few decisions,” I sobered and looked directly into his eyes. “Grampa Bender, Would you mind if I change the cabin a little?”

“Now, I don’t see why not. I suppose you want to add onto it do ya?”

“Kinda. Dad and Uncle Tom got talking to Wil and me. They’re like me. They’d like to have a good reason to throw away that old bucket you kept in the back porch.”

“Ya mean my squat can?” he laughed and slapped the covers of the bed with his hand. “I’da thought Beth or some other gal woulda insisted ya tossed thet thing months ago.”

“Oh, it’s outside, washed out and hanging on a fence post, but Dad wants to run over that bucket with the tractor and bury it somewhere,” I grinned as I perched my butt on the edge of his bed.

Sandy and Grampa Bender both smiled and chortled at that, but Lucille looked puzzled, so I explained what Grampa Bender’s ‘squat can’ was used for. We all got a chuckle from the expression on her face and the way her nose wrinkled. After teasing her a bit, we got down to more serious discussion about what we thought we could do to improve the cabin and how we planned on doing it. Since we knew that the whole useable portion of Mile High Ranch had been a lake at one time, I was slightly worried about having a septic system, but Grampa Bender wasn’t.

“Naw, thet whole ranch looks dead level, but it ain’t. There’s a degree er two o’ slope ta the whole place from one end t’ the t’other, so as long as you go acrost the driveway, and run the seepage drains down towards the bottom end of the valley, y’ll be fine,” he declared as he smiled. “Being as close to the crick as thet cabin is, ya only got ‘bout ten feet o’ ground afore ya hit ground water, but that’s easy ‘nough below frost level in t’winter. I knew all thet and I been meanin’ t’ put in a flush toilet fer donkey’s years, I jus’ never got round to doin’ it, an’ most o’ the year, I like goin’ outside anyhow.”

“Yeah, but in the wintertime, it’s not so pleasant,” I nodded.

“That’s the pure truth,” Gramps Bender nodded. “I’d suggest thet when ya do add onto the cabin ya build onto the back porch end and maybe build up some too, like ‘nother level. They was days in the winter when yer Granny was still alive that it’da been nice t’ have more room so’s we coulda been apart more. Two folks in that lil’ place was sorta crowded at times. Sides, if’n ya had a bedroom on the top floor, yu’d have a nice view n’ that’d help make it seem even bigger too.”

I must have frowned, because he smiled.

“You ain’t been there in the winter yet. Wait til you’re there once t’ roads sock in with three or four feet o’ snow and you know you aint got no place to go, but th’ outhouse er the barn, an e’en then ya gotta use one hand onna snow-rope. That’s when yu’ll see what I mean ‘bout t’ cabin seemin’ ta shrink ta t’ size o’ a post’l stamp. Besides that I dun seed this year’s books on t’ place. Yer certinly able to pay fer a decent sized place, so don’t skimp on size when yer buildin’ on. At yer age ya better count on havin’ a bunch o’ younguns and thet means yer gonna need rooms fer ‘em ta sleep in.”

That brought a giggle from both girls and a flush to my face, but I decided to just grin and bear Grampa Bender’s teasing without making any comments.

Our discussion carried on for a while and I got several ideas about adding onto the cabin, but it wasn’t long before Grampa Bender began to show how tired he’d become from his long day. Sandy and Lucille promised to drop back to see him the next day, while I told him I’d try to get by on Monday, then I followed the girls back to Sandy’s room. They asked me to wait in the hallway for a moment, but just until Sandy got back into bed. However, I didn’t have to wait long before Lucille came to get me.

That’s when I learned that Lucille had applied for a transfer to the local hospital. She’d already taken holidays from her job in Calgary to stay for a few days. Since she seemed to be getting along well with Sandy, and could even stay in the McAdam house if she needed to, Sandy was all for it. They’d even talked it over with Mom and Aunt Alice earlier. In fact Mom, Aunt Alice, Lucille and the McAdam twins had gone over to the McAdam house with the lawyer at the same time as Uncle Tom, Dad, Wil and I had been downtown.

Unfortunately, talking about that visit to her family’s house caused Sandy to become extremely emotional.

I wasn’t really surprised; after all, she’d just lost her parents and her whole future had changed in the last few days. I sat on the edge of her bed and cuddled her as she sobbed, but was surprised when Lucille left the room and came back with a nurse, who gave Sandy a shot. After the injection had calmed her and Sandy had fallen asleep, Lucille and I went for a walk.

“Why did you have Sandy sedated?” I asked rather shortly. “I thought it was better for someone to cry out their grief.”

“Normally it would be, but in the accident she was thrown around violently. Sandy has bruised ribs and some minor internal injuries. Normally we wouldn’t worry about them much, but the way she was carrying on we wouldn’t want her to injure herself by crying too hard or she could defeat the healing that’s already taking place,” Lucille said firmly.

“Nobody said anything about those injuries before,” I said accusingly.

“That’s probably because almost all patients who’ve been in violent accidents have minor injuries that can only be treated by rest,” Lucille sighed. “I’m sorry, but that sort of thing is so common that hospital staff take it for granted. Sometimes we simply forget to mention it to the friends and family of the victim.”

“So if something like that is mentioned the way Carissa’s injuries were, then I suppose the injury was quite serious?”

“Yes,” she nodded slowly. “Also you have to remember that Carissa’s mother asked the doctor about her. In Sandy’s case, the questions were asked of a nurse and by a very youthful relative. That would have made a big difference in the type of response that was given.”

“Well, thanks for explaining it to me.”

“No problem, but it’s going to cost you,” she smiled. “I want to see your ranch and since Sandy won’t awaken until late tonight or else tomorrow, this might be a good time to do it. Uncle Toby told me a lot about the place and Sandy filled in even more, but I’ve never been there. Besides, don’t you have chores to do yet this evening?”

“Well yes, but...”

“Hey, Sandy told me you have a roll-away bed and I can even cook,” she laughed at me. “Besides, your mother asked me to get you alone and talk to you about the pressures you’ve been under. I know what you’re going through and right now it probably seems that everyone is throwing more problems at you every day, so I might be able to help you handle those feelings.”

“What?” I spun and stared at her.

“Chris, I’m a professional nurse, but over and above that I’m trained in trauma recovery. I’ll be honest, I’m not certain I can help, but I’m a neutral party, even if I am still part of your family. I’ve been trained to be very good at listening.”

I simply sighed and kept walking, but I was thinking deeply as I walked. After a few moments I stopped and turned toward her.

“Okay, I’ll take you out to the ranch for this evening, but I don’t want to dump all my concerns onto you, so you can forget that. We’d best leave word with the nurses that we’ll be back to see Sandy tomorrow though.”

We’d begun to walk back toward the hospital, but also the parking lot and my car before she spoke again.

“The nursing staff already knows that we were leaving, and they have your phone number. I assumed I could talk you into letting me at least visit you. Whether you speak about your troubles to me is a totally different scenario. I don’t want to put you under any kind of pressure to do that,” she smiled. “I’ve already discovered that just being with you is a pleasure in itself.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Oh,” she laughed almost embarrassedly, then sighed. “Life is a lot different here than it was in Calgary. When I was at home, Father was constantly harping about making money and making deals. When I moved out and rented an apartment, he was offended because he felt I was wasting money on rent and more education than he thinks I need. Father is a chauvinist from the old school and doesn’t believe that women should work outside of the home.”

“So he wants you to be an old maid?” I grinned as I opened the car door for her.

“Oh no,” she laughed. “He’s as bad as Sandy’s folks were on that point. He wants me to marry someone with money and influence. Since I’m involved in nursing I think he expects me to marry a doctor. Unfortunately, any of the doctors that I’ve met aren’t good husband material. They’re all either too involved with themselves, or else too involved with their work to make good husbands. Besides, I’m not all that interested in getting married right now.”

By that time we were driving out of town and I could glance over at her, giving her a questioning glance.

“Hey, you know that old saw about not buying a cow when you can get the cream for nothing?” she laughed at my expression.

“Yeah. What has that got to do with you?”

“It works the other way too,” she snorted and then broke into laughter. “Why get tied to an old bull when there are so many young bulls around with no rings in their noses or on their fingers and no strings attached?”

I broke into laughter at that.

“Well, it’s true,” she giggled. “Since I’m on the pill and carry along condoms for guys that I don’t know are completely free of disease, I’m enjoying being single. I find a good romp in bed clears the cobwebs from my brain better than anything else.”

“Well, I guess that’s okay, but I think I’d miss the hugs and cuddles as well as the camaraderie of a regular partner,” I sighed.

“Yeah, a cuddle after good sex is great and I like waking up besides someone special,” she admitted, then suddenly she turned toward me and smiled. “Now I know why the girls all like you. You’re comfortable even though we’re talking about sex, so I know you’re open minded and don’t condemn people easily.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I snorted, then I told her about Sid Parker and Raymond Smithies, explaining what had happened and how I felt about them.

As we discussed that situation, she tried to lead our conversation to my relationship with Carissa, then Sandy and finally Jackie. I did answer some things, but left out a lot and of course that didn’t satisfy her, so she pressed for more. By the time we were back to the ranch, and I stopped at the lookout point at the top of the hill above the cabin, I was slightly annoyed at her for pressing me. I wanted a break. Hopping out of the car, I pointed down at the cabin and the barn.

“There it is. That’s Mile High Ranch.”

“That’s all of it?” she asked, appearing to be disappointed. “I thought it was a lot bigger.”

“Well, there aren’t a lot of buildings, but the ranch itself is quite large. If you look up the valley to the right, that lake set back against the cliff is the start of the land and remember, it includes the whole valley from one side to the other. Then if you look to the left, all the low land and the slopes of the cliffs that you see are part of the ranch as well. There’s a lot more land in the lease, but the valley floor drops away on the left at what we see as the horizon,” I said patiently. “Standing here, we can’t see that portion though. Uncle Tom, Dad and the rest of our family runs that section of the lease.”

“Oh, then the ranch is huge!” she sounded almost surprised as her eyes wandered over the scene. “And Uncle Toby just gave it to you?”

“No, not really,” I shook my head in disbelief at her misunderstanding. “Right now he’s made me responsible for it, but if he wanted to change his will tomorrow, he could leave it to someone else. I happen to love it up here, so I’m going to do my best to make sure he doesn’t change his will, but if I inherit or not, I’m planning to enjoy the place while I can.”

“How far are we from your parents’ house?”

“It’d be about fourteen or fifteen miles as the crow flies from here and about nineteen if we go by road.”

“And how far away is the town?”

“That’s about thirty miles away.”

“And your closest neighbour?”

“Umm, the closest would be Jason Dumfries, but the fastest place to get to would be Uncle Tom’s. Why?”

“I was just thinking about how far we are from anyone else,” Lucille shivered. “I think the isolation would bother me.”

“Oh, you’d get used to it,” I shrugged. “Come on. Let’s get back in the car. I want to get home.”

I was pulling up to the cabin when it struck me that I had nothing in the way of clothing that would fit her and she was dressed in nice clothes. When I mentioned it, she just smiled and got out of the car. Then I was astonished when she walked to the back of my car, opened the trunk, and took out a suitcase.

“Hey! Where did you get a copy of my keys?” I wanted to know.

“Aunt Liz,” she answered shortly as she dropped the keys back into her purse. “She loaned me the keys that you’d given her. That’s when she told me she thought you needed company for a few days.”

“Mom said that?”

“Unh huh, she did and after talking to you on the drive out here, I agree. You need to unload your worries on someone,” Lucille paused before lifting her suitcase out of the trunk and smiled. “So, am I welcome to stick around for a few days, or not?”

 
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