Chapter 9: Home!

Looking back, that final term felt like a continuous party.

It wasn't of course. In fact, both Marty and Adoré worked hard on the books; but compared with their prior college experience, when every waking hour was spent either on Robby, books, or horses, it seemed like a wonderful vacation filled with good times and lots of beer.

An active kid, Robby did well in day care, but, though he was always friendly and was well-liked, he seemed to the instructors to be basically a 'loner'. He talked a lot about horses, and riding. The other kids didn't believe him, when he told them he rode his own horse when they were at home on the ranch. That put him off them even more, and he was, though physically active and even competitive, not a kid to make friends easily.

His close friends were his parents and his pal, Denise.

They managed to get to two weekend horse shows before graduation was upon them. Mrs. Parmentier flew out for the occasion, and took a double suite in the local hotel-she was pleased to share with Ad and Hazel. She spent all the time she could with the kids. And when they partied with graduating classmates, she spoiled Robby, so Denise could join in the debauchery.

They all suffered through the tedium of the graduation ceremony itself.

Then they rejoiced with Denise at her wedding. She was radiant, and happier than any had ever seen her.

Denise confided to Adoré that she was determined to break the chain. She would not be like her family. She would be happy, healthy-physically and emotionally-and stable. She would be a good wife and mother and faithful friend.

Adoré and Hazel gave her big hugs and promised that they were there for her, whenever needed-and expected to be informed of the wonderful things, too. Like babies.

Finally, they all returned home to the ranch.

By March, Elin's pregnancy, at six months, was way beyond probable. She'd visited an obstetrician and arranged for regular checkups. Well aware that she would probably have the baby at the ranch, with her mother- and sister-in-law as midwives, she asked the doctor for all the advice he could give her. And she entered into a diet and exercise program that she closely monitored. She would be fit and healthy when she had this child, and the baby would have every advantage she could give her.

She knew in her heart she was carrying a daughter, which pleased her mightily. Rick might have preferred a son, but he never said anything. He just said he knew he'd love Elin's children as much as he loved their mother. Like most farm and ranch owners, Rick considered having children to take over from him important, just as Ad considered having him and Marty learning to run the ranch to be important. Their children were their life insurance and surety for their retirement.

She did not tell Rick that this would be the only child they would have... or that she really wanted to give him a half-dozen children, but couldn't.

Her obstetrician had noticed something that bothered her, and ran some tests. Elin was Rh negative-Rick was positive. Any additional pregnancies would probably not be carried to term-or could result in severely retarded or malformed children. At Elin's insistence, she'd also tested her fetus-her daughter would not carry the disease, nor pass it to her children. Elin was grateful for this small mercy, though saddened that she would only give her man this one child.

She'd tell him all this later. She arranged that, after she'd had the baby, she'd have an 'extensive checkup' at the hospital. She'd undergo a tubal ligation while she was there.

So she enjoyed her pregnancy-she even enjoyed the swelling of breasts and belly, the backaches, and the waddling its latter stages inflicted on her. She knew she'd be able to regain her figure and tone-her mother had, and so had the two aunts she'd met years before. She savored every nuance of being pregnant... this once would have to last for her lifetime.

Meanwhile, she worked hard making their home into the comfortable 'nest' she wanted for them. And she worked as hard learning how to keep Rick not just satisfied, but ravenous in bed. She tried everything in the Kama Sutra her condition would allow, as well as other ideas and techniques she'd either tried or heard about in the past. When her pregnancy was too far advanced to allow normal intercourse, she insisted Rick use anal entry. And when that was no longer possible, she gave him blowjobs he never forgot; 'deep-throating' him with ease and mind-blowing results.

Rick didn't neglect his wife's satisfaction, either; licking and caressing her until she totally lost it and was reduced to a 'whimpering mass of female flesh', in her own, appreciative words.

One night, he ate her until she'd screamed herself hoarse. She reciprocated by making him come three or four times with her mouth, hands and breasts. Neither was in any shape to keep score.

When Adoré and Marty returned to the ranch from Corvallis, Elin began caring for Robby, to allow his parents go get on with their work. She loved the bright little boy. He was a bit too serious, and took responsibility to heart maybe too much. But he was fun and mostly took a positive approach to things. He'd learned to navigate the distances between the houses and the corrals safely, no matter if there were vehicles or livestock between him and his destination. And Elin understood that Adoré wanted him to learn about horses and riding as soon as he could, so she took him to the training ring whenever he wanted to go there, or whenever Adoré said she wanted him.

Just turned three, the boy was in Elin's home almost as much as in his own-more, if you deducted the hours he was asleep. 'Aunt Elin' rapidly replaced Denise as his 'best buddy.'

Elin taught him to draw and color, and the fascination of the alphabet. Soon he knew the majority of the sounds associated with the letters, and was working on counting to 100. She'd have him at her side when she did housework, explaining what she was doing and why, as she vacuumed the house, or separated laundry for washing.

When she got too big to move comfortably, little Robby tried to do her work for her. He was so serious about it, she didn't have the heart to tell him that his grandma usually came over and did it again while he was working on the horses with his mother.

Soon enough, Elin gave birth, with Hazel and Adoré helping her, to a fine little girl, who cried lustily when Hazel smacked her rump.

(The guys, including Robby, were in the parlor of the big house, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey, and worrying about Elin. Robby had 7-up, but was included. He didn't understand what the big deal was.)

The next day, when Robby saw his new cousin for the first time, he told everyone that he didn't see how such a noisy little red thing could cause such a rumpus.

"Robby," Adoré said, "she's not a 'noisy little red thing.' She's your cousin, Audry. Now say hello to her nicely."

A good boy, Robby did as he was told. But you could tell his heart wasn't in it, and he was just doing what his mother demanded.

Three days later, Hazel drove Elin and Audry to Bend, for the visit with the doctor. When they returned a few days later, they had a car full of shopping, too.

Elin and Rick lay, sated, in their rumpled, sweat-soaked bed. Elin still couldn't tolerate normal intercourse, but had learned to get off very nicely from anal penetration.

"Darling?" she began.

"Yeah baby?"

"I need to tell you something. I have a confession to make..."

THAT got Rick's attention. His heart stopped. He was afraid his worst nightmare was somehow going to happen and Elin was leaving.

"I didn't want to tell you before, because I wanted us both to enjoy this pregnancy, and our wonderful daughter... Honey... Rick... Oh, damn! This is so hard!..."

His heart still in his throat, Rick just held her tight.

"Darling, I love you so much!" she said. "I love you. I love the ranch. And I love our baby... Darling... I can't have any more babies." She blurted out the last in a rush, and broke down, sobbing convulsively.

When Rick just continued to hold her tenderly and stroke her platinum mane, she finally stopped sobbing and looked up at him through her eyelashes. Encouraged by what she saw, she asked, tentatively, "You don't hate me, do you?"

"HATE you? What? Why... Why ever would you think that?"

"I know how important children are to you, and to the ranch. Adoré can't have any more, and now I can't either. I wanted lots of them. I loved being pregnant by you! And we can't. And I've let you down. Oh, darling, please forgive me?" She was near sobbing again.

"Hush, baby. Of course I forgive you. YOU are my light and the bright candle I come home to. Audry is my expression of how much I love you-and am loved by you. I'd like to do it again, but if we can't, we can't. Tell me about it, love."

Her sobs turned to hiccups, Elin explained about the genetic problems she had-and that Audry had NOT inherited-that prevented them from having more children.

"Well, at least you didn't have to go through all the things Adoré went through-almost dying, then the beatings and all... We'll just have to love each other, and Audry, all the more, since this is all of us there's going to be..." He kissed her tenderly, knowing that while she'd welcome him into her body again, she didn't need passion now, but rest and healing.

Over the next several weeks, Rick made a point of being especially loving in every way he could. And Elin accepted that he was not unhappy with her-indeed that he loved her as much as ever, which was a lot.