Chapter 6

The next morning I was just getting up when a small blur flew across the room and landed on me. I caught her and guided her to my side before digging into her ribs and getting a loud squeal. “No fair, you’re supposed to be old and slow.” I tickled her again. “I may be old and slow, but that also means I’m smart.” I said while forcing Felisha to squeal out loud again.

“Hey back there, please try to be a little quieter. The people across the lake will hear.” Cap hollered at us. I looked into my little lovers eyes and kissed her deeply. She looked up at me with such happiness my sleep fog cleared away. “I can’t tell you how much I missed you last night little love. Your mom is great, but I’m just so used to you being there. I love you so much Felisha.” She smiled but looked away as I said that.

This made me feel uncomfortable. There was something wrong and I wasn’t sure what it was. She always looked into my eyes when I even began to tell her I loved her. She wanted to see the love I had for her was in my eyes. I figured I should just let it go and wait till she had figured out what was bothering her. I gave her another little kiss but on the cheek before getting out of bed.

I joined Caprica in the main cabin as she was getting things ready to take outside to cook. We had set up a gas grill for that and there was a fire ring if wanted. She looked at me and I could tell something was wrong here too. I gave her a hug and she smiled at me but there was something there, something she was holding back.

“Cap what’s going on?” She tried to play it off. “Nothing, probably just my pregnancy hormone ride.” “Wow those are powerful hormones. They are making Felisha off too.” Cap looked at me and then glanced to the back of the rig. “Her too? Joey was up when I came in and he looked at me and ran out saying he wanted to get firewood for today.” I nodded. “Felisha wouldn’t look me in the eye when I told her I loved her.” Cap was confused.”What’s going on?”

It hit me. “I think the two of them made love last night and are feeling guilty.” Caprica looked at me and then I could see her shoulders relax. “Now that makes sense. It was discussed and worked out about you being involved with the two of us, but we had never talked about him getting involved with Felisha. He’s feeling guilty and so is she.” I just nodded.

“So what do we do? It’s one thing to have something worked out, but right now they both feel guilty for betraying us. I can go talk to Felisha, and you can talk to Joey. I think we if we talked to our respective partners it would be too stressful dad.” She looked worried. “Why would they even think we would be mad?” I hugged her tight. “They love each other, and they love us. Love can cause you to jump to conclusions.” We separated and I went to find Joey. The air was clear and clean as I stepped out of the RV and looked around. I didn’t see him so I listened for a little while, then I heard the sound of metal hitting wood and headed in that direction. Sure enough I found my son swinging an axe at a log so big we could never use it for the fire.

“Hey Joey, what are you doing?” He missed his swing and damn near took off a foot. “Oh hey dad, I was just getting a little exercise. Too much time behind a desk you know?” I walked over and sat on the fallen tree he had been chopping at. “Well I always thought it was good exercise. Builds muscle while letting you think. Helps to clear the mind doing something basic like this.” I reached out and he handed the axe to me.

I hefted the axe and began to swing it at the wood. Felling the bite of the blade sent a strangely comforting shock up my arms. “Yep, helps clear the mind, but you need to have focus too. Let your problems out in front of you and take a swing at them, cut them into small pieces so you can get at the details.” I said while cutting.

“You know, Caprica and I had a talk this morning.” I let that hang in the air for a second between swings. “She can’t understand why you seemed distant when you left this morning. Kind of hurt her feelings.” Chop. Swing. Chop. “She was hoping you would have been a little more bouncy after getting to be with Felisha last night.” Chop. Gasp. Chop. “Hell I know what a bundle of fun and love that girl can be so I can’t see it either.” I turned towards Joey and almost said “Timber.” From the look on his face. “What’s wrong Joey?” He looked even paler. “The two of you know?” I shook my head. “Son, don’t you think the sound of her making love with you last night missed these old ears? We’re in the woods Joey, don’t you remember I could hear a party across the lake when you were a kid?”

He kind of collapsed on a smaller log. “Oh damn it all. What must Caprica think of me now? Felisha barely started calling me dad and I go and have sex with her. I knew I should have tried harder but she was so damn sweet I couldn’t stop myself.” I whistled loudly and he looked at me. “She thinks you are a very loving man and she was glad to know that Felisha felt that strongly in her love for you to do something like that.” Joey looked at me stunned. “Man what are you thinking? Here I am, your old man, and I have been sleeping with your daughter and your wife. You don’t see that as wrong, but one night with Felisha and you think you screwed up your marriage? Caprica knows better. She figures if the two of you love each other enough to make love, then this family is finally close enough.” Ok I was taking some liberties with our short conversation but I needed him to snap out of the guilt.

“Close enough?” He asked in total confusion. “Yes, three members of this household make love to each other. You were the only hold out. The bond between you and Felisha was the only gap in our group dysfunction. Now Cap sees that the two of you love each other that much. Her family is now complete as far as she sees it.”

He looked at me. “And what about you dad. I had a feeling that you and Felisha were kind of in love?” I shook my head at this. “I am in love with her. I’m also in love with Caprica. I couldn’t live in this family of yours if I didn’t love them both with all of my heart. But I can understand now what Cap is feeling. The circle is complete. The love is now flowing in all directions. Why the hell would I feel bad about something that wonderful?”

He held back the tears thank goodness, but I could see my son shaking a little doing it. I let him do what he needed by turning back to chopping at the tree. I had made a large V cut by the time he talked again. “Hey dad, you know that thing is way too big for our fire. How about we just go after some of the larger limbs?” That’s my boy, I thought to myself.

We collected a nice pile of wood for the fire. Hell we got enough for a few days. As we got ready to take some of it back I tossed out my idea to Joey. “Hey Joey, remember how your mom always wanted to build a place up here? How about we finish that dream for her?” He looked around and smiled at me. “I always loved it up here, and I think the girls are starting to. Sounds like a great idea.” Then we headed back.

We found our girls playing naked in the lake. We dropped the wood next to the pit and turned to see a wonderful sight. Two wonderfully naked women walking towards us with smiles on their faces and ideas sparkling in their eyes. Cap took Joey’s hand as Felisha caught mine. “Why don’t you mighty lumberjacks strip and hop in the lake?” Well I didn’t have to be asked twice. I damn near ripped my clothes off and chased a laughing Felisha into the water. Soon we were splashing water at each other and laughing. You have to love the emotional resilience of youth.

We played like that for quite a while and just enjoyed the sun together as a family but we soon had a reminder of reality, Felisha’s tummy grumbled so loud I swore I could swear it echoed of the lake. We all laughed while the poor girl sank into the water till only her nose was above water. Caprica and Joey headed back to shore to fix something fast to eat.

I got close to my little love and sank down to my chin. “You ok?” She looked at me and I guessed more than saw her shrug. “Willing to talk about it?” And I saw her little eyes get sad as she shrugged again. “You know I love you don’t you?” She had such a hard time looking at me and then looking away. “Do you still love me?” She looked at me and any joy she had in her eyes melted away as she slowly nodded. “Do you think I wouldn’t still love you just because you made love to your father last night?” Her eyes started to tear up. “I do love you Felisha. I love you just as much now as I did before. Maybe even more because you shared yourself with my son who has really wanted you to love him. I don’t mind that you showed your love to him that way.” She just sat there with tears flowing into the lake.

“Why do you feel so bad? It’s breaking my heart to see you so sad. I don’t ever want to hurt you and I feel like if I can’t figure it out then I am hurting you.” She suddenly jumped towards me and I caught her. “No pops, it was me all me. I told you I loved you and you were the only person I would ever feel like that for. Then last night as we were laying there I couldn’t stop myself.” She whimpered out.

“He tried to stop me a little but I wouldn’t let him stop me. Then when he gave in and made love to me it was so wonderful. It wasn’t like with you though. It was loving and made me feel so good but it wasn’t like when you are with me. With me and dad it was like we were sharing ourselves with each other but with you it’s like I’m finding a part of myself.” She buried her face against my shoulder.

She then was gasping for breath as she cried. I held her tight and just let her feel the love I have for her. “Then this morning when I woke up next to him we smiled at each other and it felt right. Then when we heard mom getting up he got up and got dressed. When I heard you getting up I ran to be with you but when you said you loved me I suddenly felt like I had cheated on you. Like I didn’t deserve to have you tell me that anymore.”

She pulled back and she looked so pitiful. “I won’t ever do it again, I promise. Just please don’t hurt anymore.” And she wailed as she gripped me again. I waited till she calmed down a little. “Felisha, my dear sweet love. Do you want me to stop loving or making love to your mother?” She looked at me and shook her head. “I love mom, and you make her so happy. Why would I want you to stop?” I arched an eyebrow. “Then why would I not want you to love and make love to Joey?”

It finally made sense to her. She looked at me sheepishly. “Wow that makes a lot more sense than what I have been thinking huh?” I nodded. She rested her head on my shoulder. “I love you more than anything pops. I’m glad I can share some of my love with dad now, but he will never own my heart like you do.”

Then she gave my neck a few small kisses that reminded me just how much I loved her and how easily she could get me going. Her kisses went straight to my heart then turned south. I started to run my hands up and down her bare back till they rested on her plush little ass. Then just as it was becoming interesting her tummy growled again and we both started laughing.

We heard Cap call to us and we headed towards the RV. As we walked up Cap tossed us both towels as Joey came out carrying sandwiches again. We wrapped up and sat down to eat which was a good thing because a car pulled up to our area. A couple got out and then two kids came running out of the car and headed towards the lake.

Joey looked at them as intruders and I could see him putting on a confrontational face. I held up a hand and went to get dressed. All I did was to pull on some shorts and a shirt then I went back out. As I stepped out the couple who I guessed were the parents of the kids in the water were just coming over.

“Hey there. Sorry to disturb your camp with the kids. Come up here often?” I held out a hand and the man shook it. “Actually we haven’t been able to come up in a few years. My wife and I used to bring our son up here all the time.” And I waved towards Joey. “I thought it was time to bring his wife and daughter up to enjoy it.”

The lady shook my hand. “I’m Barbara, this is my husband Mike, and the twin hellions out there are our kids Jessie and James.” I looked at her and blinked. “Yes we named them that on purpose. We didn’t know they would try to grow up like their namesakes though.” I laughed with her. “Do you like to come out here often?” I asked and they smiled. “Yeah, at least once a month. We live in the city and think the kids should have some connection with nature. Living in that much concrete isn’t healthy all the time. So we heard about this lake up here and came looking for a place to camp. All the other roads out here are gated and privately owned but there isn’t a gate on this one.”

“Well there will be a gate going up in the near future. The owners are going to start building a place up here and when they do that a gate will be installed.” The two of them frowned. “Really? Well that stinks. There isn’t another place anywhere as nice as this. The public area on the end down there is always full and there is always trash everywhere.” Said Barbara. “How do you know so much about what’s going on?”

I shrugged. “Well I am the owner. Now that my son is married and has a family I am going to be putting a private cabin up here for them. Once a house is built up here we are required to put a locked gate up. That way the local authorities know who is up here and who shouldn’t be.” Barbara looked embarrassed. “Oh I’m sorry we didn’t know we were trespassing. We can leave.” I held up my hands. “Not a problem. Those kids of yours are having fun and they should. I wasn’t telling you this to kick you out. In fact I was going to ask if you would like to join us for a drink, we were just having an early lunch or late breakfast.”

They came over and sat down just as Cap and Felisha came out of the RV dressed. “Barbara, Mike, this is my Daughter in law Caprica and my granddaughter Felisha.” Hands were shaken and smiles exchanged. “Felisha, let me introduce you to our kids.” Barbra said and the three of them went down to the water for introductions.

Joey had his professional face on but I knew he wasn’t happy with the intruders. I then looked off to the side and saw the women talking and the kids playing. The daughter had come running up to Felisha and the two of them were laughing away. The little boy who couldn’t be much younger than Felisha was looking a little awkward and I could see from here it was because he was enchanted by her.

Caprica and Barbara seemed to be hitting it off as well. I could hear them talking about kids and the bond was forming between them already. There was no way I was going to let Joey get too huffy over this. “So Mike, what do you do in the big city?” I asked. Turns out he was an IT expert and worked for a few different companies at any one time.

Little by little Joey followed my example and mellowed out. Soon Cap and Barbara joined us and we all began to relax. Both of our new friends wanted to change into swimwear and needed a hand with the kids so I offered to let them do it in the RV. Barbara laughed and waved off. “We don’t need to.” They went back to their car, got some stuff out and I was treated to the sight of a very well rounded woman changing in front of me. Joey looked away but I sure wasn’t going to miss out on this. Ok I knew better than to stare but a glance here and there wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Soon I was sitting there with just Joey and Cap as the others went down to play in the water. “So Cap, what do you think of our new friends?” She had a nice smile on her face. “I’m not sure yet, but Barbara seems genuinely nice. A little gullible but very sweet.” This caught my attention. “What do you mean gullible?”

“I’m not sure, maybe it’s just the way she talks, but she never seemed to question anything I said. Towards the end of the conversation she told me she didn’t like her father in law, he was too strict or something to that effect. She asked me what you were like and to test the waters I told her it was like having a second husband.”

Holy crap, talk about throwing it the woman’s face. “And what was her response?” Cap looked at me and I saw a sparkle of mischief. “She said that must be nice and I told her it was very nice. She just smiled at me and looked like I petted her or something. Then she told me that I was lucky to have something so nice with your in law.”

Ok, either she didn’t get a hint of what Cap was saying or she thought it was ok. I looked out at the water and was kind of astonished. Mike was off swimming into the lake while Barbara was playing with the kids. Let me be a little more specific. She was playing like the kids. She was splashing about and squealing with them all. There was no hint of restraint in her at all.

“Wow, for a woman her age you think she would act a little more adult.” Joey said. Cap smack him on the arm. “I only wish I could join in like that. Even when I’m in the water playing with Felisha I can’t seem to let go that much. Too many years being so in control. I envy her.” I looked at my love and she smiled at me. I knew exactly what she meant.

The day wore on and Mike joined us as Cap joined Barbara and the kids on the beach. Their energy was down and now they were all working on sand castles. Mike brought over a cooler full of food and beer. Joey joined him but being something of a teetotaler I passed and just sipped some tea. It’s amazing what you can learn when you keep your head clear and others are drinking.

As the day got warmer and the beer was flowing I passed out drinks to everyone down at the water’s edge. Barbara was all smiles when I did this and Cap’s eyes almost glowed with deviousness. I wondered what my lovely daughter in law was cooking up. Felisha gave me a big hug and then I was surprised when Jessi gave me one just as sweetly. James was very polite and I began to think this was a very nice little family. Maybe one that we could let have access to our place year round.

When I rejoined the males of our little group they were both starting to get a little more than just relaxed. They were bitching about their work and their bosses and such which I just let float away. Then Mike began bitching about family life and I found my attention refocused.

Mike said he loved his family but there were times it was just too damn much for him to take. He said he liked coming out here so he could relax and they would leave him alone for a few minutes. Joey said he didn’t have any real reason to complain. He talked about how much he loved both of the girls and I was really proud of him.

Mike called shenanigans. “There is no way you can be that happy.” Joey said he was and that it was really the bright spot of his day when he came home. Then Mike began letting a little more of himself show than before. “Oh come on, same woman every day. Don’t you ever want to head out with the guys and maybe check out what is new on the market?”

A very telling remark. Joey defended his love for his wife and her ability to keep him happy in all respects. “Well you are one damn lucky dude. I mean Barb is nice and all but sometimes I do miss the chase.” Then Joey tossed one at him that I wish I could have patted him for. “Oh come on, the way you talk I’ll bet you “go out with the boys” now and then.” Mike looked down at the ladies and leaned over, almost falling out of his chair. “Just between us, maybe I do now and then. I believe in a clean catch and release program though.” They both laughed at the poor joke, I just smiled and filed it away.

That evening I helped Barbara and the kids set up their family tent while Caprica and Felisha started dinner. Barbara had chipped in from their food stores and felt bad that she couldn’t help because Mike and Joey were a little too tipsy to be of much help with anything. Cap, as was her nature, waved it off and got busy.

When we joined the fireside gathering dinner was ready and delicious. The kids got to make smores and have some more fun but soon Mike and Joey were getting drowsy from a day of sitting. Barb took Mike and Cap took Joey to lay down and sleep it all off. I sat with the kids and saw that even though they were still smiling I could see they were embarrassed by their father’s drunkenness.