Chapter 51: Nancy Comes, the Teens, Willow Leaves

Nancy stayed the entire week in Dillonville. She got to meet her new family, cementing relationships with her grandparents, and her half-siblings, not to mention her father and stepmother. The latter two relationships involved some serious sex, and were 'hyper romantic' to quote Nancy.

Nancy and Brad met with Marlene on Monday, and moved most of her money to an investment account. Alex came and helped with the transactions and some of the investment advice, especially so Marlene stayed 'legal' with the SEC.

Brad drove Nancy around to the five nearby colleges and the university to see if she found any appeal on those campuses. She favored the university, and made an application to attend and to seek financial aid. Given Brad's financial worth, he doubted she'd get all that much, but he had her covered.

The decision that came hardest for Brad was that Nancy wanted to live at The Circle's house. She was certainly of legal age for about everything but alcohol, but she still hadn't plunged into the sex in the house the way Stacy had.

Stacy and Nancy had rapidly become best friends, although it was a little lopsided, as Nancy looked up to Stacy as someone who was pretty, smart, knew her pathway through life, and was already on it. There was some worship involved, as there was for Brad and Sandy, and many of the others in The Circle.

Brad tried to persuade Nancy to live at the house where he and Sandy continued to reside. True, they spent about three nights a week at The Circle house, and they were totally plugged into all the activities and meals, but Brad apparently found a streak in him where he wanted to protect his daughter from all the sex.

Sandy laughed at him. "She's not a virgin. She lost her virginity when she was fourteen, and has been having sex routinely ever since. How come it's all right for you to have sex with her, but she can't have sex with others? Are you jealous?"

Brad pondered that. "No, not jealous. Protective might be the right word."

"Were you that way about me?"

Brad teased, "No, but I did worry about the men you slept with. I hoped they'd be all right after the experience with you."

"Doofus!" Sandy slugged his shoulder and wandered off. Over her shoulder she said, "Let her live in the house. She'll grow up a lot faster. Everyone will be a parent to her too."

The following Sunday, Sandy and Nancy flew to San Diego to fold up Nancy's condo, and ship her things east. Sandy had made quite a list of things to do while she was out there: get the condo on the real estate market, decide whether to keep or sell Nancy's car, ship a ton of stuff, dispose of three tons of stuff, close out various accounts, settle up with Best Buy and hope for a good recommendation, and allow Nancy to say goodbye to her many friends.

All that took a week. Denied of female companionship Brad moved into the house and lived there while his wife and new daughter worked on the west coast. He moved his son and daughter into the house too, putting them in one of the spare bedrooms available in the new wing.

Everyone was well-behaved – meaning no sex in the public rooms, and the TV cameras for the reality TV show continued to roll out the footage. The discovery and arrival of an unknown teen daughter would be front-page news in any circumstance, but to have filmed the event took things to a whole new level.

While Wendy and William, Brad and Sandy's daughter and son, knew their parents lived part of the time with a larger intentional family, they had had only limited interaction with The Circle. The week getting ready to move Nancy to Dillonville and into The Circle, enabled her half-siblings to have a unique experience and to get a feel of the love their parents enjoyed for the first time.

Monday of that week as soon as school ended, Brad picked them up and brought them to the house. Lynn and Michelle were in part of the living room taking care of the babies and toddlers, that day assisted by Derek. William and Wendy plunged right in to play with the two year olds, and entertain the others, as best they could. There was a lot of laughter.

As the members of The Circle arrived home and the ritual of hugs and kisses took place, the teens were speechless, especially watching their father embrace and kiss all the other women, and then buddy-up with the men. A few of the members extended their affection to the teens, occasionally with a little embarrassment.

The Circle's dinner at the long tables amazed the teens, and because they were new they were often the center of attention. Stacy, Lolly, Tracy, and Ellie made it a point to befriend the teens, since they were closer to their ages than any of the others.

After dinner, Brad corralled the teens into a homework review session, and some talk about school, and then they headed off to their own quarters. Brad came back eventually, and plopped down. He said, "It's not so much physical exercise, it's the mental sparring that uses up what little intellect I have." The others in the room broke up laughing.

Brad was up early and out the door to chauffeur the teens to school and to get to his own job. Promptly at four, the trio arrived back at the house and repeated for the most part the day before. This time the teens were more adaptive to the welcome rituals and even hammed it up with some of the folks.

Wednesday, Brad had a huge curveball thrown to him by his teenagers. After dinner as they went to their room for their homework review with their father, Wendy asked, "Dad, what's porn?"

Brad's head about exploded at the question, and all he could think about was who'd put her up to this.

Before he could say more, William said to his sister, "It's dirty pictures or movies, dummy."

In her innocence, Wendy said, "What makes them dirty? What do you mean by that?"

Brad waited to see if William would answer that one, but he seemed just as puzzled and looked to his father.

Brad said, "First, I want to know what prompted you to ask that question?"

Wendy said, "The kids at school were talking about it. I tried to act like I knew what they were talking about, but I didn't have a clue. I could tell it was naughty in some way, but nothing else."

William said, "I have friends who've seen it on the Internet, but you have blocks on our home computers so we can't go to those sites. I didn't realize that until I tried. So, what gives, Dad?"

Brad took a deep breath. How to explain porn and not glorify it? Hmmmm. "Porn is a word that is short for pornography. You know about the birds and the bees, meaning how a man and woman have sex, sometimes in order to have children. Well, some people get sexually excited watching that, and so there is an industry to make pictures or movies that show various aspects of those sexual acts. Usually there is little emotion or sweetness in those pictures or films, and what they portray is not real love and caring. They are considered bad or naughty by a large segment of the population."

Brad looked for understanding in his kids, and he got a flicker or two from each.

Wendy said, "So, if one of my friends says she was watching porn with her boyfriend... ?"

Brad interrupted, "At your age, that's pretty naughty. If your mother or I caught you, you'd be grounded until you became forty-two, and we'd forget about Christmas and birthdays until then too."

William said, "That's pretty bad. Why?"

Brad had to think fast again, "You know that teenagers and adults see the world differently, right. We have different rights and privileges too, for instance, if I want a beer, I can go and get one. If you want a beer, it's illegal."

The kids nodded.

"Well, seeing pornography is sort of like that. Kids watch porn and think that's the real world. It's not. It's a movie full of exaggerations, people doing weird and unnatural things, and usually some pretty bad acting. Adults watch it, and they can put those pictures or movies into a larger perspective – one they've developed by being older. They can see its faults, and maybe still enjoy it without expecting that it's what anyone else would consider normal. For those reasons, adults try to keep pornography away from kids."