Chapter 10: Advice

We didn’t stop until I got home.

It was only an hour and a half to Bundy and another twenty minutes to Turtle Cove. The oldies had two hundred acres of beachfront land. Dad had a couple of cows on it, and there was the house. Dad still ran the local Auto and Boat Repair Shop in Bargara the next cove north.

So far, he had knocked back several offers to subdivide his property. He’d laughed and said that in about ten years once the other three developments were established his land will get him five times what they were offering him now.

My parents liked their little slice of paradise and were in no hurry to have closer neighbours. My folks weren’t rich. They were typical middle-class people, but they had always been careful with their money. Dad’s shop had always done well. He had a knack of getting just about anything to do with a motor to run.

Dad had also been investing in the land around Turtle Cove for as long as I could remember. He told me it was their retirement fund and going by the development in the area in the last couple of years, I had to believe him. I was just glad to be home. We had always been a close family.

The folks came out to see who had driven down the drive. My mum squealed when she saw me. I had barely gotten out of the truck, and I was enveloped in a huge bear hug. If you ever saw my mum, you’d probably understand why I don’t mind cuddly sheilas.

My mum had curves in all the right places. She wasn’t an overly tall lady, but she looked after herself. She reminded me a lot of pictures of Marilyn Monroe as far as her body shape went. She might not be considered as beautiful, but mum held her own.

Even as she crawled closer to forty-five, she was still a pretty hot lady. My dad loved her with a passion. When I got my first computer that had a photoshop programme, I had put mums face on Marilyn’s famous picture of her standing over the culvert in the white dress and printed it off for dad. He had loved it and had put it in his shop.

A lot of people thought mum had modelled it for him and we had gotten a lot of laughs out of it. Mum had been embarrassed and told him she’d have to stop wearing her short dresses and stilettos to work because the blokes kept ogling her legs and comparing them to the picture.

Dad had made her promise to not do that, as it would deprive him. She called him a lecher but didn’t change her work clothes. She had run the front of the shop for many years. Dad had always maintained that her legs and bustline had kept him in business.

Dad was pretty much an older version of me. He had streaks of grey in his temples, but he was still a fit man. He had thickened a little as men do, but he’d not developed a potbelly like some men did.

I hope I look as good as him when I get to his age.

I introduced my new friends to my folks.

Paul got Ryan’s old room, and Nina got the guest room. Our rooms were in a separate wing the oldies had built on years ago with a big covered patio and entertainment area between us and the main house.

My parent’s room was in the central part of the house. Mum had wanted one of the other smaller bedrooms as her craft room, so dad built the wing for us boys when I had started high school.

Dad took our visitors off my hands to show them around our little farm. I joined mum in the kitchen and helped her cook some breakfast for us when I told her we hadn’t eaten yet. “What’s up, Tris?” asked mum as she bustled about the kitchen.

Damn, that woman knew me too well. I took her hand and walked her to her craft room. I closed the door, and I made her sit down. Then I turned on my bling to show her. I sat down on her footstool and gave her a summary of my last six weeks as I held her hands in mine.

I stopped and looked at her, searching for her responses. She bent forward and kissed me on the lips gently. “You always were a special child,” she said. “I’m pleased that you are still willing to help others. You have always done so. I think you may need to put some more effort into finding your life partners. Your needs demand this. You can’t just keep screwing all and sundry, son.”

I sighed, she hadn’t told me anything I didn’t already know, but I had to agree with her. “I wish I knew how to find them, mum. The problem is that it may be years until I do.”

“Yes, but I have a feeling you need at least one of them sooner rather than later,” she said. She placed her forehead on mine and held my cheeks. She stayed like that for several minutes and then released me.

“Soon, she has auburn hair,” she said. Then she gave me a wicked grin and said, “She will remind you of me.”

I chuckled and hugged my mum. “Good, because I love you, heaps, mum,” I told her.

“I know, baby boy,” she told me. She then took me back to the kitchen. We happily made breakfast together, and both of us wished that Ryan were with us and joked about how he’d tell us how to do something better. The others came in and joined us when we called.

After breakfast, I showed dad my new ride, and we had fun going over it. Dad said it needed some adjustments, and we took it over to the shop. We let Paul and Nina wander around Bargara, while we worked on the truck.

I called the hospital from the shop and asked about the Joneses. I’d learned their names from the police. They said they couldn’t tell me much as I had to be family, but the parents were both doing well, and they would be able to go home in a couple of days.

The kids were with them, and they were both amazingly well, considering what they had been through. I felt better about them at least. I’d given Sarah my phone number and told her if she had bad dreams, she was to ring the number and if I wasn’t there, she could talk to my brother Ryan.

She had put the card I gave her in the pocket on her dolls dress. I had written it on the back of one of the cards I had collected when I purchased the car. I didn’t think she would ring, but hey, we angels have to look like we care.

I just hoped she didn’t tell everyone else that she thought I was an angel.

At dinner that night, I gave mum her birthday present.

She loved the necklace. The pendant was designed to look like a flower with the stones in the petals. It had a topaz as the main stone, two smaller emeralds and two diamonds completed the centre design. The chain was made of platinum gold links. They were thick enough it wouldn’t break easily, but not chunky. It hung down to the start of her cleavage. It was also spelled, but I didn’t tell her that.

We all agreed that it looked good on mum. She loved it. After Nina and Paul headed off to bed, I offered mum and dad a ring each. mums had the same stones as her necklace with the added yellow crystal. Dads had a ruby, a diamond and a small emerald set into a platinum gold man’s dress ring, so it matched mums.

I explained the rings would keep them healthy for a bit longer yet. They didn’t have the range of spells on them that mine did, but they would do as I said. They should enhance their natural abilities, but I didn’t know if they would actually be able to perform spells.

The items wound also return to me if they died. This I was hoping wouldn’t be for a long time if I had any say in the matter. I had managed to find a bit of time alone before dinner to add a few extra spells to the rings.

“Please, mum, for me,” I said when she hesitated. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes at me. I knew something my mum didn’t know, and I let my eyes tell her that she had to do this me, for dad. She put her hand to the side of her left breast.

I had a hard time keeping the tears from my eyes. She looked at my father and back at me. I knew that she was conflicted as my mum is very much, a live and let live, type of person. She believes that things happen for a reason, even if we never know why.

“You’re sure?” she asked, needing confirmation from me.

“Yes,” I said. I wanted to tell her that my help may be too late or not enough, but I could only hope that it wasn’t.

She let out a long breath. She nodded and accepted the ring. Because she had, dad did so without any hesitation. He had no problems with living a bit long and staying healthy. I knew he was having trouble with arthritis in his fingers and that it had him worried, but he hadn’t told mum how bad it was getting. I watched as they put the rings on.

Mum gave me a funny look, “Can the spirit talk to me?” she asked.

I looked at her in shock. “Hmm, no, it can let you know how it’s feeling and if you’re in danger, but mine doesn’t communicate in words,” I said.

Dad raised his eyebrows at me and then closed his eyes. We both watched him as a lovely smile spread across his face. He opened his eyes and chuckled. “Boy-oh-boy, you are in trouble tonight, my dear,” he said.

I grinned. Shit, I hadn’t thought about the rings having that effect on them. “Hmm, I think I’ll head off to bed. Just keep the noise down, okay,” I said to my dad.

As I left, I heard him chuckling wickedly behind me. Then I heard my mother squeal.

I snickered all the way back to my room.

I got out of my shower to find two naked people in my bed.

Paul had his head between Nina’s legs and his arse in the air. Call me weak, but if I’ve been using magic and the temptation was offered freely, it is hard to say no. When I ran my hand over his arse, he wiggled, and I chuckled. I gave the bloke what he wanted.

We then made Nina happy and did her together. This had to be my favourite position with a couple. Nina rode me like a bronco that needed breaking, and Paul kept her in the saddle. I think we got her to the point that she didn’t know if she was coming or going. She was like a vibrator with new batteries.

Paul flopped beside me after he had come and said, “Fuck mate, you have a powerful effect on us. Sex with you could get addictive.”

His statement gave me food for thought. I wondered if that was why I often got uncomfortable with my casual lovers after a short time. I didn’t like clingy or possessive people. When I started to feel people behaving that way, it was when I broke off the relationship.

Paul rolled over and looked at me, “Hey, don’t sweat it, we both know the score. You’re not looking for permanent. So far, we’ve come to you, and you have simply taken what has been freely offered. We know your heart isn’t involved, just the rest of you. Trust me; what you give back on that score is fucking awesome.”