Chapter 5

Saturday early morning
Nexus Ranch
Outside of Harborton Washington

Kelly was puzzled as she stood drinking her coffee on the large wrap around porch at the front of the ranch house. As part of her favorite morning ritual she had gone out to watch the early morning sun rise over the hills to the east of their new home. When she opened the screen door she saw an odd bundle on the porch near the front door...

How the heck had someone snuck up to the front door last night without making any sound and not triggering the motion sensor cameras and alarms? The women they had rescued were all safely ensconced in the huge pole barn that had been finished a few days before. The rescued women had food, new clothing, privacy, light and heat and Maria’s aunt Adona and Kelly’s mom Jill, had even set up temporary shower and toilet facilities for them. They had no need to wander and the girls had all taken shifts to watch over them all night.

So it couldn’t have been one of the women who had left such a beautiful gift. Gift wasn’t quite the right word thought Kelly as she carefully examined the beautifully hand wrought hammered silver and amethyst chalice that had been left at the door. She felt just the slightest tingle as she felt the silver warming in her palms. No this was more of an offering than a simple gift, she was certain of it. She was also pretty sure the item was meant for her. There even had been a finely done portrait of her created in black gall ink and natural looking colored dyes on birch bark laying next to the cup.

Kelly shook her head slightly, her mahogany locks swirling as she turned and walked back inside to start breakfast with her mom and Adona. Maybe Ben or Tom or one of her sisters had an explanation.

Maria and Lizzy stopped gathering herbs for a second and exchanged a look and a twinkling smile as they watched as Eesha followed Ben about the ranch as he was checking on everyone.

“She’s got it bad, doesn’t she Maria” said Lizzy with a grin.

“Oh yeah, almost as bad as you!” said Maria.

“Hey now, I’ve been in love with him for years!” retorted Lizzy.

Lizzy and Maria knew that Sarah was Eesha’s hero and her goddess, but it was apparent that Eesha wanted Ben as her Man. It didn’t seem to deter her at all that he already had 4 and half wives or that two of them were certifiably goddesses. It was apparent that the ‘Ben effect’ had hit Eesha hard. Maria had to admire the girl’s determination.

“Okay, enough of this Lizzy, we better get busy or Adona is not going to be happy with us.” said Maria.

They were out in the meadow just past the pole barn gathering up some plants that Maria’s aunt needed for her protection spells. Maria smiled to herself. 6 months ago she would have laughed at her aunt’s magical practices but Maria had seen far stranger things with her own eyes recently. Kelly and Sarah were strongly touched by natural magic and both agreed that Adona had real power and welcomed her help at the new ranch.

“What the heck is that?” said Lizzy interrupting Maria’s reverie.

Lizzy pointed to where a clump of vine maples were still swaying under the tall firs at the edge of the meadow. Maria caught a quick glimpse of a small figure darting back into the cover of the shadowed forest.

“It looked like a little kid. Maybe we have neighbor kids playing in the woods?” said Maria as she and Lizzy strode quickly to the treeline.

“Maybe, but our nearest neighbor is over two miles away,” said Lizzy skeptically.

“Hey, looks like they left something!” Maria said as she bent to retrieve a small figure from the ground near the clump of young maples. “It’s a little owl!”

As she turned the carved burl maple wood bird in her hands Maria was astounded by the quality of the work and the detail. She swore that she could feel a tiny tingle as she smoothed her fingertips over the finely carved feathers.

“Lizzy, I think they might have meant this for you.” Maria said, handing the small figure over to Lizzy.

The instant Lizzy touched it she could feel her hands tingle and her pendant gave a gentle pulse of energy.

“This is pretty amazeballs. I think we may have some very interesting new neighbors.” said Lizzy. “This must be related to what Kelly found this morning. Let’s wrap it up and head back in. I think we need to let everyone know what we found. It’s almost time for our family meeting anyway.”

As Ben was sitting on the front porch steps finishing up his second coffee of the day, he was astounded by all the activity. He didn’t think the Marines and the Seabees together could have accomplished all that his girls, and their families had been able to accomplish in just a few days.

They had turned a simple pole barn into a functional (and comfortable) refugee center almost overnight. No matter that the rescued women had spoken an unknown number of languages and were from widely disparate cultures, somehow it was all working. From his viewpoint he could even see a few smiles peeking through from the previously devastated and abused faces.

Kelly’s mom Jill, and Maria’s aunt Adona had pitched into a strange situation and made a huge difference. He could see where Kelly and Maria got their ‘can do’ dispositions from. Now Adona and Jill were working with laptops and some translation software that Lizzy had come up with to try and determine how to reunite the rescued women with their families. Eesha was also instrumental in the process and was proving to be a formidable young woman...

Mei was ramrodding the construction crew on the other side of the ranch as they built new fences and a barn. Ben had to chuckle to himself. Those guys on the construction didn’t know quite what to make of Mei. She had undergone a complete transformation from the buttoned up, buttoned down ice queen wearing heels and silk. He could see her now striding across the meadow with her long, long elegant legs encased in dirty faded Levi’s. She paused to stamp the mud off her cowboy boots. Her waist length, glossy, raven hair spilled out around her shoulders as she lifted a beat up Justin straw hat off her head and used it to brush the dirt from her tightly rounded butt.

Ben could feel a lump rise in his throat as he watched her stride up onto the porch in front of him. Damn he was a lucky guy Ben thought as Mei bent down and pressed her soft tanned cheek into his. He could smell straw and dirt and girl sweat and Mei’s undefinable essence as she brought his face around to hers with strong fingers and gave him a soul searing kiss with her generous lips.

“I love you my Ben,” Mei said with a brilliant white smile.

“And I you, my Mei” Ben replied in a soft voice as he caressed her face.

It had been 5 months and he still couldn’t get over the changes they had all gone through and how different their lives were.

“Hey! I want some of that!” said Sarah behind him.

Ben almost jumped out of his skin.

“Goddammit Sarah, how the hell do you do that!” Ben sputtered as Mei and Sarah’s laughter belled out around them.

Sarah had many gifts but her feline grace and soft padding tiger like walk were something he still hadn’t gotten completely used to. Ben stood and drew Sarah’s camouflage covered body to his. He stared into her sparking sapphire blue eyes as he brought his forehead down to touch hers.

A light pink blush spread under the fine spray of freckles covering Sarah’s nose as her eyes closed as she grasped the back of Ben’s head and drew him down to her coral colored lips. Ben was nearly overcome by the velvet touch of her mouth and the feel of her large firm breasts as Sarah squeezed herself into him. She smelled of wild strawberries and damp woods with just an undertone of musky arousal under it all. The smell of trees meant she must have just come in from her security patrol thought Ben as his body began to respond to her lithe muscular figure.

“Alright you three! Enough making out for now.Time for our family meeting!” said a laughing Kelly from the front door.

Both girls gave a heavy sigh as Ben gathered them into his arms for a final hug and they made their way into the house.

As she finished filling out the last of the contact forms for the refugee women, Kelly’s mom Jill, paused for a moment. Taking a breath she realized that at last she felt that she was in her element and that she was doing what she was really meant to do.

These women had gone through unimaginable horrors and they needed her. And dang, she felt that she was really good at this. She hadn’t felt this way for years, not since she had lost her Jim way too early. The only thing that had kept her from completely floating adrift during those years was Kelly. She knew that Kelly had still needed her even though she had often been withdrawn and quiet. Now though Jill had a purpose.

It had been a hectic, strange, exciting and emotional couple of days. She could sense that she really only understood a small portion of what was happening and how the rescue had come about. She also knew that her daughter and her ‘friends’ were protecting her by not letting her know all the details. But, for whatever reason, she knew that they were all doing the right thing, and the necessary thing.

Strangely enough she trusted Ben implicitly. Maybe because she could feel the intense love between him and her daughter and her sisters (sister wife’s?). Jill shook her head and chuckled to herself as she remembered the first time they all gathered together.

2 months previously
Kelly’s House
Harborton, Washington

Jill wasn’t terribly impressed. So this was the old man who had seduced her beautiful daughter? She just couldn’t see it. He wasn’t good looking, tall, rich or anything else that you would think it would take to sweep her amazing daughter completely off her feet. He had a slightly crooked smile and a bit of a bend on his nose where it looked like it had been broken. And he was so much older than Kelly. In fact he looked about the same age as her own 45 years.

He did have incredibly kind, warm eyes and a quiet, unprepossessing but confident presence. And then there was the way that Kelly looked up at him as she held his hand. Jill could actually feel the love flow between them. Jill had never seen anything like it. Kelly had never been this happy before. In fact for the last couple of years Jill could tell that Kelly was deeply hurting and that it wasn’t just the loss of her father. But Jill couldn’t muster the strength to break through to Kelly. After Jim’s heart attack it was all Jill could do to just get herself out of bed.

That had all changed a few months ago. Now Kelly positively glowed. And it was affecting everyone around her. Even Jill began to come out of her funk somewhat. She even began to physically feel better. It was beyond understanding but Jill knew it had something to do with Kelly and by extension Ben.

She could probably have adjusted to Kelly’s new beau being a much older man but then Kelly began having her “sisters” over. Jill wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. The girls were frankly amazing, but still had left her with questions.

There was the sweet, funny, cute and nerdy Lizzy. She was the youngest and looked up to Kelly like an older sister and felt like another daughter to Jill. But there were depths to Lizzy that Jill couldn’t quite reach, an underlying intelligence that was almost alien.

Brash, beautiful affectionate Sarah was the next to stay over with Kelly. Sarah made them all laugh with her bawdy jokes. Jill had an odd feeling about her. Not a bad feeling at all, it was just that Sarah made her feel safe. She couldn’t understand how a young girl could make her feel that way, but she did. She knew that Sarah would never let harm come to anyone she loved.