Chapter 3

August came through the front door later that same day using the key April had badgered her father into giving him weeks earlier. He was a bit surprised at finding her sitting alone on the living room couch, the TV turned off. She looked both nervous and upset, but he had no idea why. She was also wearing a lot more than he was used to seeing, actual pants and a loose-fitting blouse that was buttoned all the way to her neck. Had he done something to piss her off? He had no idea what it could be.

“Something wrong, baby?” he asked while sitting beside her. The way April flinched had him even more worried.

“Here,” April chewed at her lower lip as she held something small in an outstretched hand.

August accepted the offered object, somewhat curious; it wasn’t anything he immediately recognized. He looked it over and was about to hand it back with a shrug when it struck him like a lightening-bolt what the small thing with its distinctive blue plus meant.

It took August long enough to respond that April grew even more concerned. Her nerves were jangling like a tightrope, and not in the good way like they had so often over the last couple months!

“Oh wow ... that’s great, babe,” August all but whispered. “You’re gonna be an amazing mommy. The best.”

Despite his significant sexual experience August had never gotten a woman pregnant, not that he knew of anyway. Too bad it would be months yet before she was really showing. He was certainly interested in finding out if there was any truth to the rumors he’d heard about the sexual appetites of pregnant women. He’d never talked money with either April or her father, that was something he kept a carefully-guarded secret, and for good reason. They were both in for a hell of a shock when that conversation came around. Honestly almost as much of a shock as Aprils news. And it would need to come soon, maybe even today. Taking care of April and a baby would be no problem at all.

“C’mere, baby,” August reached out and drew an unresisting April onto his lap. He took a deep breath while reaching into his pants pocket. If his mind hadn’t been so rattled by April’s news he would have done that before reaching for the girl.

“April, hon? I have something with me today that ought to show that I actually am looking forward to this.” He brought his hand out where she could see it, showing that he was now holding a small box.

April’s eyes went wide and her chest tightened when August opened the velvet-lined box. Was he about to ask what she thought? It held two gold rings. The large diamond solitaire on one sparkled as it caught the light.

“Will you marry me?” August’s heart pounded in his chest. Despite his age and prolific experience this was the first time he had ever popped the question. In the past he had always been far more interested in the next conquest.

“Yes! Oh, yes!” Her arms flew about his neck and she started raining kisses all over his face before he could even put the ring on her finger.

When John arrived home an hour later and came through to the living-room he was more than just a bit surprised to find the couple sitting on the couch, not talking but with the TV turned off. He’d been concerned at leaving April alone with the news she was about to deliver, but he had things that needed to be taken care of. He had half-expected to find them in the middle of a heated argument with August attempting to cajole or browbeat April into getting an abortion. Something there was absolutely no possibility of her succumbing to. He had almost hoped August would try, that it might finally allow his daughter to break free of the cursed spell the old pervert had cast upon her. He was even more surprised seeing April fully dressed even as she sat on August’s lap. Most of the time, if they weren’t watching TV they’d already be pawing at each other.

August’s hand was inside her blouse ... no surprise there ... but instead of cupping a breast he was just stroking low on her stomach. It was clear by the way he was rubbing that he was not at all unhappy at the thought of becoming a father.

April smiled seeing her father, bouncing to her feet and waving her left hand. “Look, Dad! August asked me to marry him!”

John raised April’s hand to get a better look at the ring with its impressive diamond then let go with a rueful shake of his head. “Coulda warned me,” he muttered.

“Ah, sorry man. I’d actually been planning to talk to you first, today. But April’s news rattled me.” August gave a rueful shrug.

April raced back to August and curled up in his lap like a big contented cat as the men continued talking.

“I’ve got to know, you throw money around and aren’t afraid to go places, but can you actually afford it? I just want April to be taken care of.” John gave voice to one of his major worries. Prior to this afternoon he had studiously avoided asking August much of anything about his life in the vain hope the man would move on. He wasn’t even sure which answer scared him more, ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

“No problem, man, I completely understand. Well, maybe not completely,” he glanced down at April with an embarrassed smile then back to her father, “But yeah, I’m set. One of those crazy things you hear about, my folks won a small lotto ... about five million lump sum ... while I was away at college, then were killed in bed one night a year later by a drunk taxi driver crashing through the side of their house. The lawsuit for that ended up at over twenty million. I’ve been living off the interest and actually have got more now than I started with, haven’t taken more than a million out any year in the last decade. I promise April won’t ever have to worry about money.”

John’s heart lurch and his entire body broke out in a sudden cold sweat. To have someone sitting in his living-room, someone who had been there almost every day for the last two months, just bandy about such numbers was unbelievable. Part of him didn’t want to believe, but there were August’s vacation pictures to consider, doing crazy unbelievable things so very different from his own very boring life. There was also the fact that he had flown first class while going home after that first night together. His story all fit together; he hadn’t once asked John to pay for anything. Not at the restaurant, not the hotel minibar, not gas on the way home. He had even picked up the tab the few times they had ordered delivery.

“Alright, so when do you want to do it?”

“Well, just like April, I’m an only child. Don’t even have aunts or uncles that I’m close with. And I’m afraid the friends I do have just wouldn’t understand.”

April shook her head, “You’re right. I always dreamed of the big church wedding, but my friends really wouldn’t understand. And I don’t have any family either. Except Dad, of course.”

“So Justice of the Peace as the courthouse?” John asked. It would at least have the benefit of not bankrupting him, that thought had worried him more than once over the years of watching April grow. Maybe that was also how August still had money, he enjoyed life but didn’t waste it on useless crap.

“That was certainly what I was thinking. I’ve got another place, a bit outta town, would love to have you both move in there. It’s already got an in-law apartment,” August rushed to reassure the other man. “Place’s just too big for one, but it’d be great for a family. I’ll have a service go out and clean it top to bottom, and then you two can both take a look. I’ve got a couple that actually work the land. They’ve got a place of their own, well away from the main house. They don’t do anything inside, though they do handle the yard work.”

Having another man invade his turfwould normally bother August, but John was such a wuss it shouldn’t be too bad. It would definitely be great having someone he could stick with scutwork!

April looked around at the living-room of the house she had lived in her entire life. The place was comfortable, but August was right that it would be very cramped for three adults and a child. She suddenly found herself wondering if August would want more kids. It often felt cramped with just the three adults. Particularly as she loved sex just as much as August.

“I suppose ... we could take a look,” John agreed after a moment’s hesitation.

The next day April raised her eyebrows seeing August carrying a stethoscope. “Where’d you get that?”

“My folks got it while taking care of my great-grandmother for her last couple years,” he shrugged. “Probably still too early from what my quick search said.”

April scooted over to sit on his lap after he settled on the couch, he was very glad she was so small. “Lemme just warm this up first.”

August cupped the sensitive head in both hands for half a minute then put in the ear-tips. In the meantime April had pulled her blouse free from her now-open skirt.

She couldn’t help but giggle a little when August pressed the still somewhat-chilly membrane against her belly. And though he moved it around, he wasn’t able to find anything that sounded like a heartbeat.

“Not yet, you wanna give it a go?”

“Sure.” She gave up after a minute, not having heard anything useful either.

“Well, that’s definitely something to look forward to.”

“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Slim Carne, Justice of the Peace smiled upon saying words that he must have uttered hundreds of times before.

April gave the man a side-long glance before tipping her head back. It had finally happened, she was Missus August Sandarvalle!

August pulled her tight to his chest then paused only a moment before leaning down and kissing his wife for the first time.

Slim smiled, then picked up the clipboard holding the needed paperwork and flicked through to the final page and adding the required signature. He waited for the couple to come up for air, then handed the entire pile to August. April wasn’t really available, what with the way she was clutching tight to August’s arm with both hands. “Okay, all you need to do now is hand these in at the desk, you should get the certified copy in a week or so.”

April shook her head, ’Who knew getting married would involve so much paperwork?’ A moment later she realized it wasn’t so much the government paperwork ... although there had been plenty of that! ... as everything to do with August’s wealth. There had been a seemingly-unending stream of bank accounts, investment accounts, property deeds, insurance, a will, and so much more.

Just before they left, August turned to where the JP stood beside his nice but utilitarian government-issue desk, “Just wanted to say thanks, you’re the first person to find out about us who didn’t throw a fit.” He glanced to John, who pretended to cough as a light blush colored his cheeks.

Slim Carne gave a rueful chuckled while shaking his head, “Seen it all before. And my own wife is more than ten years younger than I am. She was a bit older than your lady there when we met, but if it works for ya, who ‘m I to judge?”

April asked for a few minutes to get ready the night they moved to August’s place outside of town. She had been living with August ever since the wedding but they still spent most days at her father’s house. He was right that the place was too big for one. It might well be too big for three. But she also knew that the entire property would be just magical with kids, boys or girls.

And not just the house. It sat on half a section, three hundred and twenty acres, so much land as to be almost unimaginable to the city-raised girl. And it wasn’t just boring flat farmland, though there was some of that too. There were hills and a patch of forest, a river ran along the western boundary, as well as a large pond that caught spring run-off from a vast stretch of mountains across the highway. There was a barn with farm equipment, as well as stalls for six horses, although only two of those were occupied at the moment. She had never been near one before and felt just a bit nervous after seeing just how big the animals really were. She shook her head ‘no’ when August offered to saddle them and take her for a ride.

The house was just as impressive as the land. It had two above-ground floors with a deck wrapping around three-quarters of it, plus a gigantic fully-finished basement, painted white with red trim, and a steep red metal roof. It was formed of two rectangular sections that met at a corner, each half was large on its own at forty feet by thirty. The overlap was tiny, perhaps ten feet. And that didn’t include the in-law suite at all, that was an extension built along one wall of the main building, relatively small at only twenty feet by thirty and one-and-a-half stories. The yard was just as impressive, she didn’t care to guess how large, with several trees that would provide a great deal of shade in the summer months