Chapter 31

The nurses in the Labor and Delivery department at Humboldt Hospital couldn't help but notice that the same man was listed as the father of babies to five different women. Another unusual thing was that each of these women had a female bodyguard and companion on duty to see to her safety and well being at all times. Now Winnemucca was not the smallest town in Nevada by any stretch; but it wasn't the largest either. And this being Nevada and not Utah, this made for pretty good gossip in the break room; however, once the different staff members had met Mr. Young, they just seemed to understand that they should keep their musings to themselves and not invade his privacy or that of his mates.

All of Dale's babies were born without difficulty within a span of two weeks. He was the proud father of eight healthy children by his five proud mates! Angelina delivered a baby boy that she and Dale named Edward Warren Young. Louisa was the proud mother of identical twin baby girls, Francine Louise Young and Elizabeth Janine Young. Maria happily bore a son to Dale named Estaban William Young. Melody gave birth to a boy that she and Dale named John Robert Young. And last, but perhaps most surprising, the petite Tina gave birth to identical triplets! She and Dale named the three boys Richard Allen Young, Ezra Brian Young, and Walter Dale Young.

A fiery young redheaded nurse named Felicia Ellersby, finding that Mr. Young had a good sense of humor, teased him just a bit by saying "Sir, you give new meaning to the phrase 'Parallel Processing'!"

Each of the five women insisted that they would remain in the hospital together until all of them were ready to go home, and though the hospital's administrator found it somewhat unusual, she knew that Mr. Young was paying for everything in cash and could see no reason to deny the request.

Quite often, ever since she had met Xenanthul, First Lady Sally Hatcher had spoken with her dragon friend via the communication crystal the Wizard Manix had gifted her with. Even though it had been awkward for a while, especially right after Pharnuil's death, Sally still made the effort to talk with Xenanthul. The dragon found some measure of comfort in her friend's almost daily communications. Vyagar had recorded the President's tribute to Pharnuil and Xenanthul watched it quite often, cherishing the fact that Pharnuil was loved and missed by so many.

Her loneliness and loss had first turned to anger at the terrorists; but as she worked to reduce their numbers her will firmed those feelings into a strong sense of purpose. Xenanthul had her friends and her mission and this gave her life some meaning.

She was delighted to learn of the new lives born to the Wizard and his mates. There are wounds of the heart that never fully heal, and yet the joys of life, friendship, and the love of others can overwhelm the pain somewhat. Dale was happy to see her facing life with hope again.

The day that had seemed so long in coming to Lizzy and Pamela was finally here! They, and just about everyone else in the home Dale had made in Winnemucca, had been working diligently to prepare for the arrivals of the eight precious new members of the family. Rob, John, Jason, Enrique, and Emilio had each willingly been put to work by the remaining women of the household assembling bassinets and cribs, carting in huge boxes of diapers and baby wipes, and accompanying their excited womenfolk on numerous shopping trips for baby clothes and the like.

John and Rob had gone through every room in the house to determine just what would need to be done to baby proof the home to protect the children from injury. While it would be sometime before the children would actually be crawling around the floor, Rob assured John that their inquisitive minds and agile fingers would explore every outlet, nook, and cranny. With eight little ones to watch out for the two men thought they should get a head start on things.

Georgette got quite a laugh one afternoon when she found Rob crawling around on hands and knees throughout the house, "I'd have hoped a big boy like you would have learned to walk by now Rob!"

"Cut it out Georgette, you know what I'm up to," he replied with a chuckle.

"Yes I do and it won't work. You're crawling around trying to look up our skirts and see our panties; but since we aren't wearing any I'm afraid your efforts are in vain," she said with a laugh.

John snuck up on her from behind. He too was on all fours. He looked up her skirt to her naked ass and pussy and spoke loudly, "I don't know if I'd put it exactly that way Georgette. It's quite a treat to see your bare beaver!"

The startled woman jumped at the sudden loud voice and the breath John was blowing on her pussy, "You scoundrel!" Georgette exclaimed just before she burst into laughter.

Finally it was time to make the trip to the hospital. A caravan of cars left the Young estate. Each had been carefully equipped with a car seat. Jason arrived back at the house with the Hummer just as everyone else was pulling away. He had run on an errand at Dale's request and now began unloading the numerous bouquets of flowers from the large vehicle and placing them in the various rooms the new mothers would be staying in as well as other spots around the house where they would be enjoyed.

He stayed busy with the final preparations Dale had charged him with while the others helped get the newborns and their mommies packed up out of their hospital rooms, bundled into warm clothing, and buckled into their seats in the cars.

Getting a newborn into the car seat for the first time can be quite an experience for the uninitiated; soon enough Rob and Georgette took pity on Dale and his mates and showed them the best way of accomplishing the small feat.

When the caravan arrived back at the house everyone worked together to get the five mothers and their small charges inside and comfortably situated as quickly as possible. Dale had purchased quite a number of leather recliners and had them placed around the house in places they might be useful. In addition to the recliners, he had also added a number of comfortable rocking chairs. With help from the other men he had moved the furniture from his Den to a room upstairs. Now the former Den was outfitted with rockers, recliners, and bassinets. He wanted it to be a nice place for his mates to nurse their children, read a book, or take a catnap without having to go back to their rooms. The fact that it was close to both a bathroom and the kitchen should add to its convenience.

It was to this room that the pleasantly surprised mothers were first led. Jason had started a small but cozy fire in the fireplace to take the nip out of the air this fine winter morning. Dale had to show him how to work the fireplace since it was fitted with one of Ezra's inventions. Ezra had designed a flue mechanism that reduced the amount of drafts entering the house through the chimney while still allowing smoke and excess heat to escape freely. It was a pretty good design to begin with; but knowing that his babies would often be sleeping in the room, Dale had asked Vyagar what might be done to improve on it even further. Vyagar had added something he called a molecular screen. In a nutshell the screen somehow knew what molecules to let travel in what direction preventing a harmful buildup of gases from affecting the room's precious occupants.

By now, the room was toasty warm and quite comfortable. The five mothers were soon arrayed in fine silk kimonos, relaxing in either a recliner or rocker, and just enjoying being home with the rest of their family members once more.

The Young babies would never lack for attention and were probably going to be the center of it for quite sometime to come. Dale spent the next two hours seated in a recliner holding first one child and then another; somehow he knew he would never tire of being a daddy. As he looked at each perfectly formed child he noticed that whatever their eye color, each one had the little flecks of gold that his eyes had.

The scene of five mothers, eight babies, and one father might already be unusual enough; but things didn't stop there. The OAI 'pets' that Dale had brought back from the Mexico trip were maintaining their own quiet vigil around the babies and the house. Dale knew that his children would always be monitored by watchful and caring eyes. There were quite a few large bird stands spread around the home for use by the two large green parrots Polly and Pete, and the two large Macaws Spock and Uhura. Several pet doors had been installed for the use of the two Golden Retrievers George and Gracie, the Norfolk Terrier Cuddles, and the Great Dane Hercules. A unique system of climbing posts and through the wall tubes allowed the cats to climb up the posts and cross through the tubes from room to room and floor to floor. The Siamese cats Cheech and Chong seemed to rarely touch the floor preferring the aerial highway that had been created for their use while Ying and Yang, the two Egyptian Maus, seemed to prefer the floor most of the time. Before the afternoon was out, Dale's faithful wolf friend Fang also put in an appearance.

It was almost Christmas and Pamela, Jason, and Lizzy were at home watching the little tykes along with Angelina when Gabriela called. They had obtained their passports and visas and were ready to come whenever it was convenient. She wanted to know if it would be okay for them to come for the Christmas holidays. Angelina assured her that it would be and put Pamela and Lizzy to work on the internet booking flights and such. Jason got quite a charge seeing Lizzy and Pam get so excited planning the trip for their two Brazilian friends.

Angelina knew that Enrique had become quite a good friend to Jason; she and the girls decided that he should break the happy news to Enrique. Jason and Enrique both loved rock climbing and would often at it for hours at a time. After the others arrived back home from their Christmas shopping spree, Jason pulled Enrique aside and asked him if he was too worn out from shopping to do a bit of climbing.

"Oh I'm definitely getting a little tired of shopping; but I've got lots of energy left. Where did you want to go climbing?" Enrique asked with enthusiasm.

Jason was ready for his question. He pulled out the large aerial photos of the estate that Dale had printed up for the two climbers and pointed to a spot circled in red. The two had been talking about various likely spots for a good climb on a regular basis and Enrique remembered seeing this one from the ground on more than one occasion.

"Let's do it amigo!" he said with his characteristic grin.

About two hours later, when they were halfway into their climb, Jason scrutinized Enrique's rigging to make certain he was secure and then asked him a question that puzzled Enrique. "Do you want to go the rest of the way up, or would you rather we go back down and do some Christmas shopping of our own?"

"You want to go shopping? What are you talking about? I just spent the entire morning ferrying bags from the store to the truck, watching women try to make up their mind about things that I don't understand in the first place, and then carrying their packages from the truck into the house. Why would I want to go back and do it all over again? I thought you wanted to go climbing?" Enrique said with a bit of exasperation.

Jason just burst out laughing and then reached into a pocket on his climbing vest and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. Stretching out his arm he handed the paper to Enrique who now, somewhat skeptical of Jason's sanity, hesitated to accept it. "Come on Enrique, take it!" Jason instructed.

"What is it?" Enrique asked as he began to gradually extend his arm to grasp the offered paper.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was a store coupon?" Jason teased.

"No!" Enrique barked as his usual grin made its appearance once again.

He unfolded the paper and stared at it with some disbelief. Finally realizing that it was real, he quickly refolded the trip itenarary that Pamela had prepared for Gabriela and Pantera and said "Shopping it is my young friend! Let's go back down!"

"Okay buddy! But remember to take it easy. If you don't get down in one piece Gabriela would have my balls and I've actually become quite attached to them!" Jason told the quickly descending Enrique.

"Vyagar?" Dale said as he lie on his side on one of the Romanesque style couches in the throne room while relaxing from the ministrations one of his body slaves was providing him with.