Thirty-two

IT WAS COLD when we got home and there was an old station wagon and a camper trailer parked in front of the house.

“It looks like Kate’s family has arrived,” I said. “They’re earlier than they expected.”

“I’ll go downstairs,” Wendy said.

“Don’t be silly, Tiger. You might as well meet them now as later. You are going to meet them.”

“Yes sir.” I stopped cold. Oh shit!

“Wait. I’m sorry, Wendy. That wasn’t very considerate of your feelings and I kind of ordered you to come in with me. If you really don’t want to meet them right now, you don’t have to,” I said. “I know Kate will want to share her family with you just like I did.”

Wendy wrapped her arms around me and we stood in the garage for a couple of minutes like that.

“Are they as nice as your family?”

“They’re different than my family, but nice? Yeah. Did you know that even before Kate had made love to us on our birthday that her family just gave us a room—or a wagon—together? And her mom figured out that there were more than two of us in the relationship before Kate ever said anything. She’s a little spooky, but nice,” I said.

“Thank you, Tony. I’ll go in with you. I really just wanted you to tell me to. I’m sorry. I’ll be stronger.”

“Things take time, Tiger. It doesn’t happen overnight. You’re really doing well.”

I wrapped my arm around her waist and we opened the door.

“So, we camped in Ellensburg last night, just to see if we could actually all sleep in that thing,” Ken said. That explained why they’d gotten here so early today. “It was a wee mite crowded until the kids all decided to sleep in the back of the wagon.”

“It was much more comfortable,” Sunday laughed. “And no one was snoring next to our heads.”

I was surprised to find that in addition to Sunday and Willow, the family had also brought Rainbow, the other fifteen-year-old I’d met at the camp. They looked more mature than when I saw them over Labor Day. Willow was still a little shy and tentative when he spoke, but Rainbow was proving just as delightful as Sunday. It was funny to see them all sitting on the floor in the same bib overalls and T-shirts that Kate had worn the entire first year in college.

I looked at Wendy. She was sitting next to Gypsy on the sofa, absently shuffling a deck of cards. I knew what was going to happen there and hoped that Gypsy was as kind to her as she’d been to me. Kate sat beside Wendy and Oke sat beside Gypsy. Ken was in the other big chair and I sat in the recliner with Lissa and Melody on the arms. For now, the boys seemed content to play on the floor with the trucks they’d brought home from Nebraska.

“So how is your drumming coming along?” Ken asked, glancing at the stack of drums by the fireplace. The boys immediately lifted their heads and zeroed in on their own drums.

“Kate dances!” Damon said.

“Hey, buddy, so do Mommy and Melody,” I laughed. “And you!”

“Good, good,” Ken said. “We brought a couple of drums with us. We’ll have a pow wow later on.”

“Sounds like a good way to welcome in the New Year,” I said.

“A few drums?” Rainbow said. “That’s why we slept in the station wagon. There’s no room in the camper.”

“That reminds me,” I said. “I can spot for you if you want to back the camper in next to the house. We’ve got that RV pad next to the garage that I never could figure out a use for. I was thinking of putting a basketball hoop at the end for the boys. But there’s power and water on that side of the house, too.”

“That will be great,” Oke said.

“We have rooms inside, too,” Lissa said. “Wendy has one of the downstairs bedrooms, but we have the upstairs guestroom and the other bedroom downstairs. It doesn’t have much in it at the moment, but we have an air mattress that we can inflate.”

“That would be good,” Gypsy said. “Papa Ken, why don’t you take the guest room and let the children have the air mattress.”

“I see your method,” Ken laughed. “That would leave just ... hmm ... you and Oke in the camper, right?”

“What do you think, Papa Oke?” I asked. “Sound like a good plan to you?” He just grinned and patted his wife.

“Well, we should do it while it’s still light out. We’re all going to our favorite restaurant tonight,” I said.

As we were getting up, I watched Gypsy motion to Wendy to draw a card and show it to her. Gypsy nodded her head and set the deck of cards on the coffee table. She glanced at me and headed for the front door with her husband. Everyone moved to ‘help’ with backing in the camper. I passed the coffee table and couldn’t help but quickly lean down and flip up the top card. I put it back and cut the deck, then headed outside.

How could she be the queen of diamonds and still be so different?

Kate disappeared with the three teens and Melody and Wendy went to help her. We got the camper backed in and leveled. Oke hooked up the water and electricity and the camper lit up. I got a chance to look inside and saw that there were half a dozen drums stacked in the living area. It really wasn’t that big a camper!

We got ready to go to Carmine’s. Kate came into the bedroom with Melody while Lissa and I were getting dressed. It had taken a while to get Lissa extracted from Grandpa Ken’s stories, but he had his duffle bag in the guest room and was supposedly getting ready, too.

“They’re so cute!” Melody exclaimed.

“Isn’t her family wonderful?” I said moving over to give Kate a kiss.

“Not just her family, the kids,” Melody explained. “You’d think they’d never seen clothes.”

“You saw how I dressed the whole first year of school,” Kate laughed. “We just don’t have much occasion to dress up out in the boondocks.”

“Oh my gosh!” I said. “Do they need clothes for the restaurant?” The thought hadn’t occurred to me.

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Melody said, claiming her kiss. “We already stole clothes of yours for Willow.”

“Rainbow can wear my clothes,” Kate said, “but my little sister is a good two inches taller than me. I had to borrow something from Lissa’s closet for her. Mine’s a little thin at the moment because of the things I’ve given ... er, loaned ... to Wendy.”

“We got Wendy some cute things today,” I said. “She insisted on buying her own work clothes, but I told her the other stuff was all mixed in with my costumes and props and I didn’t really know how much it cost. I did buy her a pair of good shoes for working in the restaurant, though.”

“You know, she doesn’t have to stay downstairs tonight, Kitten,” Lissa said. “She’s welcome with us any time.”

“She’s still a little self-conscious about my family all being here,” Kate sighed. “I think she might slip into bed with us New Year’s Eve, though.” Kate looked at the three of us in various stages of getting dressed. She didn’t have a stitch on. “I was ... um ... wondering...” Kate began. I could see she was struggling with something and pulled her to me to sit on my lap on the bed. Melody and Lissa knelt in front of us.

“What is it Kitten?” Lissa asked.

“If it was okay with Wendy to share the bathroom, could I, maybe, rent the other room?”

“Kate, are you still so unsure of us that you don’t know you have a place in our hearts and in our home. Anyplace you want,” Lissa said.

“I love you so much,” Kate continued. “I want to be closer. I want to be with you. But I want a space that I can call my own where I can go and no one bothers me. Where maybe I can take one of my lovers for a little special time by ourselves,” she whispered. We’d all been on the receiving end of a little of Kate’s special time. I understood.

“Are you ... um ... planning to have Amber move in, too?” I asked. “Private space just wouldn’t be the same without a voyeur.”

“I was thinking you’d want to install a little spy camera in my ceiling and a big screen TV at the foot of your bed,” Kate laughed.