64: Matched Pair

The party, the drumming, and the dancing lasted well into the night. The friends who had come from far away were the first to leave, and we were glad there was enough open parking in the new development that they could get their cars out. The parents of the tribe had a little more difficulty, but as soon as the other guests were out, we started lining up their cars in the drive with the keys in them. We finally got things loosened up enough that when people got tired and decided to leave, they could.

I had a chance to talk to Coach Hancock for a few minutes. It was good to catch up. Whitney and I took the time to give him the full tour of the studio and our home. He was really proud of us, but at times he sounded like a recruiter.

"You two should be in the Marines. You'd be perfect officer candidates. You're well-trained, disciplined, and natural leaders," he said.

"Coach, look around. I'm not alone here, but I'm responsible. I couldn't leave all these people. They are my friends and my family. They need me here."

"I understand, Brian. But it's the whole protect and defend thing. You need to think bigger than the few people here in your clan. You have a country that needs to be protected and defended. And there is no excuse for you, Whitney. You'd have a great career in the Marines." Whitney didn't say anything.

Bart caught me before they left and maneuvered me away from the crowd toward the village development.

"We might want to plan a retirement home here, too," he said. "If my daughters decide to stick around."

"Members of the tribe have first choice," I said. The big man sighed.

"I suppose there is no chance that I'll see a ceremony like today's between you and any of my daughters," he said quietly. "Even though you and Danielle obviously love each other deeply. If you didn't marry the mother of your son, you certainly won't be marrying my girls."

"Bart, the women dressed in red today are my cónyuge. My mates. All of them. We've had a ceremony that was slightly different than the one today. We call it a handfasting. It means the same to me as marriage does to Lionel and Sugar. If the time ever comes when one or more of your daughters become my cónyuge, you will be invited to the ceremony. That's all I can promise," I said.

"It's not exactly what I envisioned for my little girls. I'd rather they each got married to a nice guy—different nice guys—and gave their mother and me a passel of grandbabies. Deborah and Dorothy are ... Well, even an old hillbilly like me can see that if they ever have a man, they'll have to share him. Or he'll have to share them. I already went through the denial stage on that one. Still makes me a little mad, but mostly I've accepted it. Incestuous lesbians. Damn! Now, how fucked up is that? Still, I just want them to be happy."

"They are doing better, now," I said. "I don't mean they are less into each other, but they are learning respect and kindness. I think they've figured out that it isn't really all about them. And Dani really doesn't want to lose them as sisters. They're working on that, too."

"Well, don't be surprised if you get the wrong one pregnant. Half the time I still can't tell the difference."

"I'll never confuse either Dorothy or Deborah with Danielle. I never have. Right from the start," I said.

"That says something right there, doesn't it?" he said. "I know I come off as a brash, loud, obnoxious, fat hillbilly. I like that reputation. I've been the master distiller for twenty-five years. Started work in the distillery right after I got out of college. Surprised I went to college? I was still-master in five years. That was when Sylvia and I agreed it was time to start a family. So I'm not an impatient man. I'm willing to wait for my passel of grandkids. But ten years from now ... I better be seeing some fat bellied women or I'll know the reason why." He laughed. I joined him, but I kind of think he was serious.

"Brian?" Nicki said as we broke our kiss late that night. It had taken us a long time to get to bed and gis were scattered all over the big bedroom. With Mom, Dad, and Anna in the master, Nicki and I were having our lovemaking right in the middle of everything. A few of our hearthmates were already asleep. Tomorrow, her parents were picking her up to go to the airport. Her classes at Brown were to start on Tuesday. "Would it be too weird if ... um..."

"Honey, I will do whatever you want. It's your night. Just tell me what you'd like. I'm going to miss you so much."

"Could we ... um ... ask Danielle to join us?" she said. Now that was a surprise! "I know ... At least I think I know you aren't making love with each other—at least not having sex—but I'm going to miss her almost as much as you and Liz."

"Of course we can," I said. "Dani, would you come cuddle with us?" Danielle grinned at me from the other side of Rose, Rhonda, and Samantha. She scooted out and lay down next to us. Liz rolled toward us on the other side.

"Are you ever going to actually fuck?" Liz asked. "I've been lying here for, like, an hour trying not to come while you played. It would be so much better if I heard him actually sloshing around in you."

"You're so nasty, Liz!" Nicki laughed. "Get a condom on him." While Liz equipped me, Nicki put an arm around Danielle and kissed her head. "I wish I could take you with me," she whispered. Then she moaned as I sank into her well-prepared center. Just because we hadn't fucked yet doesn't mean we hadn't been playing. Nicki had been pretty vocal in her last two orgasms. I wasn't sure how Liz was holding off with the way she was playing with herself.

"That does sound inspiring," Dani giggled as we made a very wet, sploshy sound coming together. "Just because Brian and I haven't fucked doesn't mean I'm asexual. I'm pretty sloppy down there right now."

"It's just ... I noticed the first time you were in bed with us, everything intensified. It's like you amplified my nerves and ... I'm gonna come again NOW!" Nicki screamed before I could cover her mouth with a kiss. As soon as my lips were over hers, though, she sucked my tongue into her mouth and started rocking her hips like crazy. I pushed her legs back so I could get deeper in her and both Liz and Dani slammed up against my thighs with their hands going like lightning. Nicki was coming again and I wasn't far behind this time. She was still fluttering when I started pumping and she ramped up again. Both Dani and Liz moaned beside us.

"Oh, god!" Liz said. "I thought I'd never get my cookies. You are so hot, Blondie."

"Don't call me that!" Nicki laughed. "I'm still a little goth anarchist at heart."

Eventually, I managed to dislodge from Nicki's intimate embrace and dispose of the condom. Liz immediately went to work on getting me ready for another condom and then sank down on me with a long protracted moan. She did all the work while I lay on my back and listened to Nicki.

"I still get crazy. When you got sick and we had to do three or four shows a day with Elaine, I almost lost it. I know when Rhonda gets like that, she sucks on Rose's tits. With you laid up, I didn't have any release. I was running my limit on pills. But then ... As soon as you came downstairs that Sunday night, Dani came and cuddled me. You just don't know what that meant to me. Lizzy, honey, you know I love you dearly, but I really can't just cuddle with you. Even though I hold your hand. But..."

"I know," Liz said. "We can all cuddle with Danielle. We can all cry on her shoulder or laugh when she tickles us. She's the only person I ever hug and never stop to think if I have clothes on and what it will mean. But, right now, I need someone to hold my hand so I don't gouge holes in Brian while I come!"

This time when I pulled out, I went to the bathroom and washed up a little. When I got back, Dani was in the middle with Liz and Nicki cuddled up next to her sleeping. Dani looked at me through sleepy eyes and smiled. I found a place to sleep between Elaine and Donna.

"I'm not objecting to the creation of a village community over here," the man standing in front of the group said. "I'm just not certain I see an advantage to having us on the far corner included in it. We're too far away to use the water supply. We already have a paved road. I admit it's not as thoughtfully laid out as this little community, but we're not going to change that. We'll still be using county fire and sheriff services. What's the sell?" He went back and sat down.

This was a really drawn out process and it was all futile. With Maribelle's help, we convinced fourteen of the twenty households in the southeast corner of the section to come to the ranch Sunday afternoon to talk about the proposed village community. We'd given them a tour of the village, which now had the streets graded and curbs in. Foundations were being dug for the first three homes. The water tower construction was finished and the inspectors had certified our well. Water was filling the tank at a slow but steady pace.

It was the end of September and we needed to formalize the proposed platting of the community. It was all having an adverse effect on our studies. As soon as the conglomerate that owned the field next door heard we were thinking of platting a community, they decided to be difficult in the negotiations with John to buy the field for an airport. Their latest proposal had been double the price for half the land with a 150 unit development on the rest of the land. Of course, they wanted their development to back up to ours with the airport on the far side.

They had to be kidding. Nothing out here could support 150 cracker box houses. Of course, their proposal assumed that the village would pay for sewer and water for their development and when they started noising that around, the County got involved and said they had to maintain at least fifty percent of the total property as agricultural. The conglomerate had pulled back then and said they weren't interested in selling at all. Everyone was pissed at everyone, and the existing development of twenty homes on the far corner of the section didn't see any advantage in becoming part of our village. I had to agree.

It looked like our best bet at the moment was to annex that property and not the existing development. Then if we incorporated, we could zone the property and control what was built there, if anything.

"I talked to Dick Randall," another man said. "I know none of you like him, but he warned us about this group when they moved in. He figures this is a way to get tax money without providing anything in return. Why is there nothing in the petition and proposal that talks about proposed tax rates? Now I've got nothing against El Rancho del Corazón, as you call it, or your proposed village community. But leave us out of it." No one else stood up to address the group.

"On behalf of your neighbors here at El Rancho del Corazón, I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to come over and view the plans, and to express your opinions on the matter," Rex said. He was our real estate attorney and this most closely matched his expertise. I raised my hand. "Brian, did you want to address the group?" I nodded and stood up in front of them.

"I just want to add my thanks and the thanks of the ranch and our residents. You notice that we didn't try to pack the room with our people except to provide tour guides and refreshments. We really wanted to hear what you had to say. After listening to you, I have to say I agree with you. I am going to ask our attorney and surveyors to resubmit a proposal that excludes your area from the proposed community," I said. "I want to tell you why. El Rancho del Corazón comprises people who know each other and who trust each other. There has never been an instance since we moved here that we have attempted to force our will on either our neighbors or each other. We don't have, I mean you and our community as 'we', don't have that mutual respect and trust for each other. Without that, the community would fall apart in short order. We would have enough votes from people who are legally resident here to force the inclusion of your development. But we won't. And you should know that if at some future date you decide that your neighborhood should be part of the community, it would then require a majority vote of both the existing community and the annexed community. I think that proviso will help you all sleep at night." There was some nodding and shuffling of feet.

"You'll just drop the whole thing?" one guy asked.

"We will continue with the proposal to turn this portion of the township into a village community, excluding the Schmidt subdivision. That's forty acres that Mr. Schmidt subdivided and sold off in twenty roughly two-acre parcels. We don't know you and don't want to force our vision on you. You don't know us and from what I've witnessed here, a lot of you don't even know each other. Our vision is for an ecologically sound community in which the neighbors all know each other and watch out for each other. I hope that we have shown so far and that you will continue to see that we are good neighbors," I said. "Thank you all for attending this little gathering. I, for one, found it very informative."

Rex ended the meeting and people chatted for a few minutes. We still had snacks on the counter and the triplets were quite a hit serving them. A couple of the women wanted to know about the studio and how they could get invited on Young Cooking. Most of the people were in their late thirties and forties. Not exactly our target demographic, but the women, at least knew a lot about our shows.

We finally got everyone off the ranch.

"You did a good thing, Brian," Rex said as we sat around after the meeting. I wasn't sure how legal it had been to have one of the cameras running and have the meeting shown in the family room of the big house. We didn't want to overwhelm the folks at the meeting with everyone from the clan at it, but we also didn't want anyone who was interested left in the dark. We weren't actually having a clan meeting, but Rex, Anna, Marshall, Maribelle, Del, and several of our casa were sitting discussing how it had gone.

"So we just exclude their community from the village?" Rose asked. "I don't like us seeming elitist."

"That's just it, Rose," I said. "They don't have a community. They all own houses on that forty acres with little two acre plots. But I don't think even half of them knew each other. The more I got to thinking about it, the more it just seemed like we were asking for trouble. And they were right. We didn't really have anything to offer them."