Chapter 36: I Didn’t Do It!

With the craziness of the holiday week over, the O’Dell clan settled into the regular day to day life that we were used to. We got the herd together for breakfast and shared the set-up and preparing and the cooking and clean-up. The same thing applied for lunches and dinners.

Between meals, Erin took care of the books for The Bar-Bar and The Club-Club. She did the payrolls and the drink and food orders for both bars. She spoke daily with Marcus, who was doing a great job managing The Bar-Bar.

Lynn managed the Foundations business and investing opportunities and made sure that the household accounts were balanced. She kept the trust funds for each of the children. Each fund was started with a $10,000 seed and then she managed them, so they grew steadily. Each of the kids would be multi-millionaires by the time they turned 21 and were given access to the money.

Blossom was the designated mom and teacher to the kids during the days and was the one who taught them in our own little day school. She taught math and reading and spelling and country dancing. The girls all enjoyed each discipline and it showed when we took them to the Club-Club. They always had fun trying to dance to the music from their place in the family room. On special occasions, Blossom did the BBQ and smoking of meat for parties And me? My job was the house and yard and the band. I did the yard work and gardening and most of the house cleaning. We all pitched in for laundry and cooking. Oh, and I had rehearsals with the Savannah Band a couple of times a week and normally performed with them every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.

Our home was full of love and it was not unusual for one of the spouses or children to just walk up and kiss, hug, or cuddle with a member of the family. The girls would pull out a game, or come out and help me garden, or just cuddle. I was always touching my wives and they were always touching each other.

One night in late January, we were playing Scrabble. We had all three boards going and the girls were showing off new words they had learned in Blossom’s reading class. We all had mugs of hot chocolate and the infants were crawling around causing a general ruckus, when Genevieve stunned everyone with a question.

“Mother? If you are our mother, why do we have red hair and you are bald?”

Lynn looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

“Darling, who told you to ask?”

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t do it!” I said.

“No one told me. But Erin Mom has yellow hair and so do her babies. Blossom Mom has black hair and so do her babies. My sisters all have red hair, even our big sister Dara, but you don’t have any hair on your head.”

Lynn took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she gathered her thoughts.

“Genevieve, I love you. You are so smart to have noticed. Before I married your father, way back when your sister Dara was a little girl like you, I got very sick. The doctors thought that I was going to die. After talking with the doctors at a very special hospital, I decided to take some very special medicine and after many months of being very sick, I got better.”

“The doctors told me that they didn’t think that I would ever be that sick again, but because the medicine was so special, all the hair on my head fell out and never grew back. That is when I had the tattoo done. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes, Mother.” Genevieve had a funny look on her face.

“Was there something else, Genevieve?”

“Will I lose my hair?” The little redhead had another funny look on her face.

“No, darling. You won’t.” Lynn hugged her.

“But I like your bald head.”

Lynn laughed and rocked her daughter as she hugged her. I was laughing as well, and I moved over next to them and hugged them both.

“Genevieve, I understand how you feel. I think that your mother is beautiful, too. I love redheads like you, and your sisters and mother.”

“But mother has no hair.”

“When I first met your mother, she was wearing one of her wigs, the one that is the same color as your hair, and I thought that she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen.” I said.

“You ignored me!” Lynn protested.

That brought a laugh from Erin, who looked at the two little blondes on her lap.

“It’s true, girls. Your father didn’t know that he loved Lynn Mom or me! We had to tell him.”

“Mother, how could he not know that he loved you?” Margaret asked from Blossom’s lap.

“He didn’t know that he loved me either, until I made him dance with me.” Blossom said to the girls.

They looked at me like I was the dumbest boy ever.

“That was because none of you told me that I was looking for you.” I said.

“Daddy, I don’t understand.” Margaret asked. The other girls looked at me and nodded.

“Margaret. Girls. Sometimes, other people know what is good for us better than we do ourselves. That is why there are people to teach us.”

“Like The Babies?” Margaret asked.

Wow, that was an interesting question. I looked at the moms. Lynn and Erin smiled and raised their eyebrows.

“Yes, Margaret, like The Babies. And like your moms and me, and teachers in school and even your sisters and brother.” I said.

“But Daddy, I like mother’s head, I want to look like her.” Genevieve said with a little pout.

“Oh, my darling.” Lynn squeezed her questioning daughter. “I am supposed to have a wonderful bunch of red hair on my head, just like yours and Erin Lynn, Martha and Wanda’s, and I wish that I did.”

“Genevieve, I think that your mother is really happy that you love her so much that you want to look like her, but she went through so much fear and pain when she was so sick, I don’t think that she wants that to happen to you.” I said. “We all love you because you are a wonderful Genevieve. I mean, look at your moms. They are all different and they are all wonderful and I love all of them.”

“I look like my sister.”

“Yes, and Margaret looks like Taylor Erin did. Twins are like that. But you dress differently so that you can look like yourself. Some days you have a ponytail and Erin Lynn has pigtails or a big braid. You do that so that you can look the way you want. Someday, when you are older, you might want to cut your hair short or even change the color, but for now I think we all want to enjoy the Genevieve that you are.” I stroked Genevieve’s head as spoke to her.

Paula then sat up and looked at her mother.

“Someday will I have those?” She pointed at her mother’s massive breasts.

“Paul!” Her mother exclaimed.

“Nope! I didn’t do it!”

The other moms both laughed at my quick defense. Paula was kind of young to be thinking about the notion of breasts, but I figured that The Babies were working some sort of magic on our kids in their sleep.

“Paula, all people have breasts, look at your daddy, but moms have larger ones because God wanted the moms to feed their babies while the daddies protected everybody. But everyone is different, that is why Blossom Mom has smaller breasts than me. Someday when you are no longer a baby, you will grow breasts. Some day when you are a young woman, they will get bigger and someday when you become a mommy they will get even bigger and then you will be able to feed your babies like Lynn Mom and Blossom Mom and I do.”

“Ok.” Paula blinked a few times and that was it. Simple answers.

Just then the bell rang signaling someone at the front gate. I got up and went to the intercom.

“Yes?”

“Hello. This is Boyce’s Flowers and I have a delivery for an Erin O’Dell.”

I looked at the intercom before keying the button, “Just a moment please.”

Walking back into the family room, I looked at Erin with a confused look.

“Erin, there is a delivery person at the gate from a flower shop with something for you.”

“Me?” She smiled and looked at me.

“I didn’t do it.” I said.

Erin looked at Lynn and Blossom.

“I didn’t do it, either.”

“Me neither.” This from Lynn.

“Well Paul, don’t just stand there. Put on some clothes and go out there.”

I keyed the intercom button and told the delivery person to drive up to the front door when the gate opened, then I pulled on the sweatpants and sweatshirt I kept in the front closet. By the time I had added boots and a coat, the delivery truck with the bright flowers painted on the side had pulled up to our front door. Opening the door, I walked outside into the cold air.

“Hi, I’m Paul O’Dell, Erin’s husband. Can I sign for the delivery?”

“Sure.” the young boy said.

He handed me a clipboard and pointed to a line. I signed it and just after he handed me a long slim box Lynn appeared and gave the guy a five-dollar bill.

“Thank you kindly.” He smiled and tipped his hat.

“No problem. I’ll open the gate when you get close to it. Thank you.”

The guy got into the truck and set off down the drive, while Lynn and I walked back inside. He slowed as he drove between the brightly lit trees, towards the gate and then accelerated out onto the street with the gate dropping down behind him.

“Here you go Erin.” I handed the box to my blonde wife.

“Girls would you please stand up so I can set the box on my lap?”

“Yes, mother.” Penelope and Paula almost jumped to a standing position.

Erin set the box on her lap after examining it for any label or note. She slid the top of the box off and lifted the lid to expose one, bright yellow rose.

“Shit!” Lynn whispered to me.

“What’s wrong, Lover.”

“Erin hates roses, and yellow ones worst of all.” She quietly spoke to me.

“I can hear you, Lynn.”

“Sorry Erin. Is there a note inside?”

“Not that I can see.” Erin said as she put the rose back in the box, closed it and handed it to Penelope.

“Darling, would you please throw this in the garbage for me?”

“Yes mother.” Penelope said as she took the long box from her mother.

“Wait a second! What is going on?” I had to ask.

Erin gave me a look that conveyed fear and sorrow and worry and, perhaps, hate, before she stood and walked to the stairs and silently went upstairs. Lynn gave me a worried look and went after her, leaving Blossom, me and the kids wondering what had just happened. Penelope came back from the kitchen and stood between her sister and her twin.

“Daddy? Why did I have to throw away the pretty flower?”

“Penelope, I don’t know. For some reason seeing that flower made your mother very upset.”

“Should we go and see if we can help?”

“Penelope Erin, you are a wonder, my little love. I think that Lynn Mom is helping her right now, but we need to be ready if they need us. Let’s go back to Scrabble, ok?”

Blossom took over one board and I took over the other and we went back to playing our game.

Erin stood and silently walked to the stairway. She didn’t notice her wife and longtime lover following her until she got to the top of the stairs.