Chapter 7: Expanding Even More

The plans were adopted unanimously and, since Beth again had to go to work every day, it was up to Katy and me to plan it all. Soon construction workers were all over the place and slowly, at least to us, it all took shape. I must admit that it looked very good.

We had placed a big bedroom in the middle of the new extension, with bathrooms on each side, and hidden behind the bedroom was a smaller room where we planned for the initiation rites to take place. Behind one of the bathrooms there was a sauna and, from the bedroom, there was a door which led out to the atrium and the pool. There was also a door from the living-room, which also led out to the pool. From my "office", Karl's old one, I could look out to the pool so that whenever the kids were there alone I had my eyes on them, not that we needed to worry though. All of them could swim rather well and their swimming-abilities improved by the day.

The glass-roof could be "folded" back out of the way so that during the hot summers we had the sky as a roof. (During the first summer, we found out that it could get too hot in the secluded pool-area, so we spent most of the time on the grass out in front of the extension).

Only a short while after the building was finished, Katy got a call from her son, William. She announced happily that her son had gotten engaged Anne, to a girl whom he had known for more than a year and had asked her to visit them.

She had told him that she wanted to talk to us before she went away for a whole week. I could understand her hesitation, since she had more or less taken over the responsibility of raising the children... And they just loved her. Especially Patrick, who had taken to her just after Katy had joined us, maybe because they both shared an interest in growing vegetables.

She had asked permission for her to make a garden in the field behind the barn, and soon both she and Patrick seemed to have their noses stuck in the dirt looking for whatever was hidden there and digging it up and then digging a new hole, where they put it in and covered it up, over and over.

Many evenings, in front of the TV, they had their heads stuck in some catalogue or textbook about potatoes, carrots, onions or whatever. I have to admit that they seemed to know what they were doing because we ate fresh vegetables from May to October. They even stored potatoes and other root vegetables in the barn and we ate of them almost the whole year.

A week before Katy was to leave for her visit to her son, she asked me to take a walk with her. She took me across our last field and then pointed over the land that lay in front of us.

"This farm is up for sale. If you and the rest of the family don't disagree, I would like to buy it."

"Why?" I blurted out before I even considered what she had told me.

"Two reasons. First we would be much more secluded if we owned the land next to us, this is the only way anyone can approach our home without being seen. We see everyone who comes by the road, long before they are in front of our doors. Well, I know it sounds paranoid, but I would like to think that we are safe from intruders. But the main reason is that I would like to buy it for Patrick. He is genuinely interested in farming, and I am too. I would like to try it out in full scale and, if and when Patrick is ready to move away from home, there will be a very nice home waiting for him and his future wife just behind that hill."

"I know were the house is. I walked over there just after I, or we, inherited the farm from Karl. The old man didn't want any visitors, he made that perfectly clear in a polite manner but he was grateful that I had made the effort to introduce myself and sometimes we talk across the fences if we see each other."

"Oh, he is a nice man, I too have spoken with him sometimes."

"Was that how you learned about him selling the place?"

"Oh no. I happened to be outside the brokers office when they hung the 'For Sale' sign up in the window, along with a picture of the farm. I went in and asked them to hold the place for me for a week. I had to pay them the usual fee, of course."

"Hum. So you really want this?"

"Oh yes! But only if it is OK with the rest of the family."

"I'll tell you what I think. First we have to talk it over with Patrick, maybe he isn't interested. If he says he is, we ask him to think it over for... When is the last day you have options for it?"

"Well, it'll be this upcoming Thursday."

"OK then, we ask him to think it over till Monday. Tuesday we'll have a family-meeting. Then you have Wednesday and Thursday free to close the deal before you have to leave for the weekend."

"Oh great!" She kissed me on the cheek and hugged me close.

"But I have to insist that half of the money must come from Emma's and my account."

Even though we all had access to each others money, in theory we all had our own accounts. I took care of the daily handling of them all and Katy and I together invested a part of it in shares and bonds. The profit from this trading was added to the mutual fund or reinvested. Katy had, as I have mentioned before, a very instinctive and lucrative way of choosing the shares. I, on the other hand, had a better knowledge in some fields. We did have some losses, but most of it was in the plus column at the end of the year.

I first talked with Patrick and he got really exited at the prospect of getting more land to farm. Then Katy put the idea before the family and, after some debate, it was agreed that the farm would be bought. Even if Patrick didn't want to manage it when he got older, we could use the land for other things... Foresting was one idea.

Katy closed the deal and then she was off to visit her son. She came back a week later and told us that we all were invited to the wedding just before Christmas when they could squeeze in the time needed for the ceremony and a couple of days of a honeymoon which would last to the second of January. Then they would take a longer honeymoon in June.

Time went fast. Christmas was approaching fast and most presents would have to be bought before we went to William's wedding, though I planned to buy some in the capital, some things that I couldn't get in our part of the country.

We met William and Anne (William's bride-to-be) in the bar at the hotel were we stayed. Anne was a beautiful girl-woman. Long blond hair hanging all the way down too just below her shoulder blades, blue-green eyes, a long face with a straight nose and a full mouth above very feminine cheeks. Rather broad shoulders and, on the front, two large mounds revealed that she must be the bustiest woman in our company. Not that it said much, it seemed as if small breasted women were drawn to the men in our family, and vice versa.

She had wide, generous hips, and I'd bet that her ass was round and high, but that I would have to judge later. After all, I couldn't walk around her and stare at her ass, could I?

She wasn't a tall woman, she hardly reached William's shoulders as she stood beside him. She was rather shy at first but warmed up during dinner and it turned out that she was both witty and intelligent.

We went up to Emma's and my room for a drink after dinner. William sat between me and his mother and I could hear him complain about living in this big city. He would rather live and work in a small town, more or less the way we lived. If only he knew! I thought nothing of it. Most people have dreams about living somewhere else then at the place where they actually live.

Elizabeth asked him if he was still considering the job offer he had mentioned in his earlier phone call. He replied that the position was still open but that he wasn't sure how it would work out with us all living so close to each other. We all assured him that we would love to have him and Anne as neighbors but due to the excitement I think Elizabeth forgot all about her little task and I didn't want to force her to think that she must do it just now. I saw however that there was something going on between brother and sister. I quiet little flirt!

The next day I managed to sneak away for a while and I prowled the city for a shop which could deliver my special order. I found one on a street were there were a lot of little specialized shops with products ranging from lingerie to leather clothes, tinsmiths, silver and gold specialties, and so on. I placed my order and then I sat in a small café drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying the moment, looking at nothing in particular while seeing most of what was going on around me.

Suddenly I realized that I could do my Christmas shopping now and no one could possibly guess what I had bought them. This was, after all, the Capital and there was a lot more stuff for sale here than in our rather small town. I had already bought the presents that the kids had put on their wish lists, but that was more or less things they expected to get.

I spent another hour shopping and had three bags full of presents when I finally came back to the hotel. I could see the curiosity in everyone's eyes as they saw my bags and the children had to force themselves not to ask what I had bought.

The next day the wedding took place and we met the bride's family. They seemed nice enough and I was glad on William's behalf that he married into a nice family. The next day we were on our way back home.

On Christmas Eve I gave each of the adult family members, myself included, a Christmas gift. A piece of jewelry depicting a heart with a cross in it. In my early teens it was popular to give a girl that you liked a silver-token of a cross, a heart and an anchor which meant faith, hope and love. I didn't think that any of our family needed the 'hope' so I had ordered a heart in yellow gold, crossed by a cross in white gold, made to be necklaces. Everyone loved the present and when I told them that I had made one for each of the children, to be given to them at their initiation, they loved the idea even more.

Daily life once again took over the family and time passed quickly. Soon Jessica's birthday wasn't that far away. She had no specific wishes for a birthday present. I think she was too preoccupied thinking of the "initiation" to think of anything else. But anyhow, we bought her a lot of stuff, mostly books and of course some clothes.

And then the night of her birthday arrived!

In our initiation-room we had placed two chairs, almost like two thrones, on which Emma and I presided dressed in our dresses, red for the women and blue for the men. The room was lit only by candles and flowers were placed all over the room, but mostly around the big bed.

David, Elisabeth and Katy went to Jessica's room, gave her her white dress and followed her to the initiation-room.

"Sir, my lady," Katy said as they had entered. "Sir, malady, we bring you this young girl so that you can make her a woman."

Neither I nor Emma said anything, we just nodded our heads and I looked at my oldest daughter. She was so beautiful. She looked just as Emma must have looked her age. Slim, long legs, almost skinny but not quite since her womanly form had started to develop. Her little breasts pushed the sheer fabric of her new gown outwards and the nipples were clearly visible and the dress flowed all the way down so that it hid her feet as she stood in front of me and her mother. There was a blush of excitement on her cheeks and she trembled a little as she stood proudly in front of us.

"What is about to happen here must be kept a secret for all the world," I said to my daughter. "You have now reached the age where you are about to take the step from childhood to womanhood. There are benefits, as well as responsibilities, connected to this transformation and these will later be told to you by your mother. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," she replied blushing.

"Do you swear to not reveal anything of this ceremony to anyone who has not gone through the same ceremony?"