36: Of Mice and Men

The clan was downright reserved and demure Sunday. I guess after our Friday night explosion and the heat, we were all a little drained. I was a little disoriented when I woke up Sunday morning early for my special time with Rhonda. It took me a minute to decide who was lying mostly on top of me, sweating so much that if I moved she'd slide off. When I realized it was Heaven, I quickly looked around. I met Rhonda's eye. She had that fake surprised look on her face and glanced down at April in almost the same position that Heaven was in. She grinned and shrugged before closing her eyes again.

What have we gotten ourselves into this time, honey? And what are we going to do about Addison? Are we adopting Theresa and Larry into the clan? I think so. If for no other reason than Theresa loves our gis and Larry loves the scenery. Are we adopting April? Joanne? Amy? I'm getting overwhelmed again.

I think I'll just go back to sleep.

When I woke up again, Heaven had moved. And she was continuing to move—her sweaty body sliding almost friction-free against mine. Her pussy lubricating my cock. Oh god! I wasn't in her. She was just sliding up and down the underside. Every few strokes, she'd catch the tip of my cock against her opening and freeze there. It was all I could do to keep from shooting off. In a second or two, she lifted and slid along my shaft again, her whole body sliding up and down mine. When she froze again I couldn't stand it.

"I'm going to come, Joanne," I whispered. She immediately lifted and slid back again. With that long stroke down my cock, I started pulsing and she moaned into my neck. She made little thrusting motions along my hypersensitive underside and her whole body shook. "I thought for a minute you were going to..." I started.

"I almost did. But you weren't awake and I wasn't protected. It's early enough in my cycle that I should be safe, but I need to do something to be sure when you are inside me. I wanted to feel you in me so badly. Will you make love to me, Brian? Today?"

"You know how I feel about it, Joanne. I want to make love with you. But..."

"But you know I'm going to leave. I'm ready to make the promise, Brian." All my lovers had made a promise of some sort, even if we weren't making a long term commitment. But what was Heaven's promise? And did I trust her?

"What are you promising, Joanne?"

"I'm promising to come back. I know I'll have to leave. I know it will be work and it requires more than me sending you pictures once a month. And I know ... it means ... admitting that I love you. Not just to you, but to everybody," she said. The kiss she gave me then was the sweetest thing since our first kiss when we were children. It was all of the things I'd learned to categorize. It was friendly, promising, hopeful, and filled with intent.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Yes?"

"Yes, I will make love with you today."

The best planned lays of mice and men gang aft agley, and leave us naught but grief and pain for promised joy.

In this case, going to shit came in the form of Jordan Partridge and 98° weather. Of course, that was just the cap to a long day.

It started in the shower after forms.

"Brian, will you come riding with us?" Rhonda asked. "We want to go before it gets too hot. April's never been on a horse and we want you with us. And to pick which horse she'd be best on. Please?" It was almost impossible to say no when the girls in question—Rhonda, Samantha, and April—were 'helping' me in the shower. Well, it wasn't like I'd never been with April. I have very distinct if somewhat surreal memories of eating her sweet pussy while Rhonda rode her face. That was after several hits from April's bong. I snickered.

I'm so damned easy.

The girls made sure it was my finger in April's bong while Samantha stroked me into spurting all over her.

Rhonda and Samantha saddled Gypsy and Princess. I showed April how to saddle Queenie, knowing that if anything happened, I could give a voice command to Queenie and she'd obey me. I couldn't even imagine how many kids had been put on Queenie's back and convinced that they were riding like professionals when all the time, Hal or Tim were giving Queenie voice commands. I wondered how those two old wranglers were doing. I needed to talk to Larry and Theresa about that.

I gave April my own special boost into the saddle that involved a few squeezes of her butt before I lifted her up. Then I mounted Jingo and we headed for the woods. The woods were cooler. By nine o'clock, the temperature was already well into the 80s, but the woodlot was a good ten degrees cooler. The horses were happy to keep a slow, gentle pace as we crossed from property to property and then turned to head back home.

"Brian, Gypsy says Queenie is getting really tired. It's the humidity. And besides, April's butt is getting sore," Rhonda said as we were turning. "Gypsy thinks Jingo should carry her with you."

"Gypsy thinks all this, does she?" I laughed. I'd used those same words on Rhonda a few months ago to get her to ride double with me. Of course, getting April onto Jingo in front of me was considerably more complicated than lifting Rhonda off Gypsy. On the other hand, Queenie stood quietly while April got her feet out of the stirrups and climbed up my arm onto Jingo. Jingo only flinched a little when she kicked him in the neck. Rhonda took Queenie's reins to pony her alongside Gypsy. I could have just told Queenie to follow and we wouldn't have had to worry about it.

"I think someone is trying to throw us together," April said. "Is this really the way you ride double?" She was sitting spider-style with me and it was actually pretty pleasant. April was a couple inches taller than Rhonda and built just a little bigger all the way around. It was some pretty nice padding being pressed against my chest.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?"

"It's not that I mind," April said. "As long as it doesn't get too hot, this is a pretty nice way to ride. And I've heard that this is a good place to get a kiss from Chef Brian, too."

"Thank you for not calling me Patrón, though Chef Brian is almost as bad. And I think I did kiss you this morning."

"Will you kiss me again? And touch me? Just my breasts. I can still kind of feel your fingers inside me from the shower," April said. She untied the shirt that was knotted beneath her breasts, letting them swing free. "If I take my shirt off, then we don't have to worry about the inside my clothes or outside." I held her and petted her as we followed the other horses through the woods. I kissed her and let Jingo pick his own way behind Queenie.

"What are your intentions?" I asked. "What does April really want?"

"Oh, I definitely want to get my itch scratched. Your fingers were nice and Rhonda's tongue is divine. But I'd love to feel your cock up in me. It's been a long time since I've done that. I decided I wasn't going to trash my reputation in college. Turns out, it was an easy commitment to keep," April said. "I don't have any goals for us, though. I'd like to be part of your clan, but as long as I can have some good times with you and Sam and Rhonda, I'm okay. I just figured that there'd be a day sometime when you'd go off the deep end on set and I'd have to give you a blowjob to settle you down. I wanted a little time to be intimate with you before that day gets here."

"That's not actually part of your job description," I laughed. "And it was more to settle Rhonda down than me."

"She told me about it. Well, she told the whole class, but we talked in more detail later," April said. "Wicked cool. You can't just do that with a stranger. You have to trust them up front. That's all I'd really like. To have that level of trust, so that if it was ever needed, or even desired, I could step in willingly and be whatever you need at the moment. I'd do that for you. I'd do it for Rhonda. I'm close to being able to do it for Sam. I know I don't have the history with you that the rest of the clan has, but ... not today. Someday I'll tell you what this all means to me. For now, I'm just going to be the best cameraman and director you've ever had. Whether we become lovers or not, you're going to be seeing a lot of me—a lot of my flesh, and often."

We rode back to the ranch, hugging kissing, and touching. I had to admit: April has really nice boobs.

By noon, Betts, Allen, and Maddie had arrived. I had things to do, but I wasn't going to let them interfere with having quality time with my niece. In four months, she'd grown and her vocabulary had expanded vastly. Instead of Unca, I was now Jeff. I looked at Betts and she laughed at me.

"She's saying Chef! We've been watching Young Cooking with Chef Brian videos. They've been rebroadcasting your segments on The Homemakers' Hour every day in Seattle and are interspersing them with the new series you filmed this year. She loves it," Betts explained.

Of course, all the girls were Antie. There were a couple she especially liked, though, and they included Doreen, Rachel, and Rhonda. As soon as we set her on the ground, the two-year-old was headed for the horses as fast as her little legs could carry her. Sandy came running with her helmet and boots and we had her up on Gypsy in no time. By that time, it had already reached 90° and we were all beginning to wilt. Betts and Maddie disappeared into Casa del Agua after lunch. It was cool there. We were realizing one of the severe drawbacks of turning a barn into a house. We had air conditioners in the upstairs windows, but downstairs we had all the doors and windows open and were blowing air through the room with big fans. It was still too hot. Hell! The air we were blowing was ninety-plus.

That's when Jordan got a bee in his bonnet.

"I haven't visited the IU campus. I don't think Addy has even been on it. We'll all be busy tomorrow with your television show. Take us to the campus and give us a tour. We can drive around with the air conditioner on," he said.

Betts begged off so she could catch up with Doreen. Rhonda wanted to meet with them to plot out what they were going to do in the segment they'd film this week. Betts was nearly a month further along and was past the halfway point. I went hunting for a companion and it was Cassie who volunteered to accompany us.

"After all, I haven't really explored the campus yet myself," she said. "Thank God, Renee helped me get my Elementary Ed schedule set and took me to meet my advisor."

The plan was to just drive around campus and find an ice cream cone. Of course, I had to drive down Jordan Avenue to show Addison all the cool fraternity and sorority houses. Most still had sidewalks painted with their standing and prowess in the Mini-500. But the buildings themselves were old and impressive. Then we went out 10th to an ice cream shop and all got huge cones. Cassie slid over in the seat next to me and held my cone while I drove back toward Dunn Woods. You can't really see any of the buildings around the old campus area from a car, so we pulled into a parking lot and walked through the Memorial Union and out to the quad. I was glad my major kept me near this area. The buildings surrounding the woods were all the sciences, the law school, and part of the English department. I think they put that part of the department bordering the woods so that science students could fulfill their English requirements without leaving the area. Rose would be halfway across campus for her classes this year.

That applied to Addison, too. She planned to study International Relations. Business and Sociology were all located on the other side of the Arboretum. By the time we walked all the way through the Arboretum to the Library, we were all drenched in sweat and the ice cream was long gone. We headed back to the car by way of the TV and Media building. I'd intended to walk through the Fine Art Museum if it was open, but we were still on approach when Jordan stopped in the middle of a sentence about how beautiful the campus was—which he'd said about ten times already—and just stood there. He looked out at the Arboretum, clutched his chest, and collapsed.

"Dad!" Allen and Addison both screamed as they rushed to him. Allen went straight to work loosening his father's tie and pouring the remains of a bottle of water on his forehead and into his mouth. I sprinted to the museum. The building was open, even though most of the exhibits were closed for the day already. Upstairs, the gift shop was open and I ran in demanding to get a phone to call 911. The person behind the register dialed as I told her my father-in-law had collapsed outside. She relayed the information and when I verified that it was right between the TV building and the Museum, she handed me another bottle of water and sent me on while she talked to the dispatcher.

I soaked a handkerchief and laid it on Jordan's head. I looked up to find Cassie supporting Grace and was afraid that Addison's mother was going to drop, as well. I rushed to give her water, which she tried to tell me Jordan needed. I finally got her to take a few sips. One thing about being on campus, we weren't far from the hospital and there were emergency staff on campus, even in the summer. In less than ten minutes, an ambulance drove through behind the museum and onto the service entrance for the Media Center. They had Jordan loaded and were racing to the hospital in no time. Allen managed to worm his way into the ambulance with his dad and I ushered Grace, Cassie, and Addison back to the car. It must have been 150° in the car. I could barely stand to stick the key in the ignition through the open door to start the car and get the air circulating. We opened all the doors as the fan blew the hot air out full blast.

Once we arrived, the emergency room staff took one look at Grace and had her on a gurney and headed toward a bed as quickly as her husband. Addison was allowed to tag along and Cassie and I found ourselves sitting in an empty waiting room. I went to the pay phone and called home. Robyn answered.

"Robyn, water. Make sure everyone drinks water today. We're at the hospital. Jordan and Grace collapsed. The techs kept talking about dehydration. Please take a message to Betts about what has happened, but make her stay put. Keep Maddie out of this heat," I said. I was just dumping on her. I was worried about the whole family. We'd been stupid to be out walking around in this heat. It had to be 80% humidity, as well.

"Brian, I'm giving you to Courtney. I'll go to Casa del Agua. Take a deep breath, a drink of water, and tell Courtney everything," Robyn said.

"Are you okay, Brian?" Courtney said, coming on the phone.

"Cassie and I are fine. Allen and Addison are fine. Grace and Jordan both collapsed. We don't know what the condition is, but it sounds like they just got dehydrated. I heard one of the paramedics mention heatstroke, but we don't know anything yet. Please make sure everyone has lots of water and that they stay in the spaces that are cool. I'll let you know more when we know more."

"Okay. I'll let everyone know. Call us before you come home. I think everyone on the ranch is naked. We've had hoses out, just spraying each other down. Come home safely to us," Court said.

We finally got home about nine. By six o'clock, the emergency room had become a zoo. Heatstroke, dehydration, nausea, and the works. It was 98° and people were dropping like flies. They kept both Grace and Jordan overnight to be sure they were fully rehydrated and to observe Jordan in case there were other complications. After hugging his sister, Allen went straight to Casa del Agua to be with Betts and Maddie. Addison collapsed into my arms. No one had bothered to dress when I called and told them Grace and Jordan weren't coming home with us. Addy was a wreck. I took her upstairs, undressed her, and Cassie and I took her to the shower. That got us cooled off and when we came out into the bedroom, the air conditioners had the temp down below eighty. What a relief.