Chapter 5

"You cock sucker," he said as he started toward me.

I just stood there and waited for him. Most big men use their size to intimidate people. Tiny was no exception. A smaller man would have approached me cautiously. Tiny just bulled ahead. When he was about four feet from me, he started drawing back his right fist to pulverize me.

I grasped the hose tightly and swung it from behind me. I don't think he even saw it coming. It made contact with the side of his face with a satisfying thunk. I expected him to go down, but he just stood there kind of stunned.

"Now what?" I thought. I didn't know what else to do, so I kicked him in the nuts. Tiny made a retching sound and grabbed his gonads. He still wasn't down. But at least I was making some progress. I hit him one more time in the head with the hose and he hit the ground.

I stepped close to him and asked, "Tiny, can you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"I could really fuck you up right now, but I'm not going to do it. If you ever come within five feet of my sister again, the sheriff won't have to arrest you. I'll catch you alone and I'll fuck you up so bad you'll never play football again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah."

I walked back to the car and got in. I put the hose beside the seat and drove off. I pulled off about half a mile down the road and threw up my breakfast. I had two very proud young women holding me as I vomited.

When we got back in the car, Karen made me get in the middle and she drove. She didn't take us home, but pulled in at the fishing hole. Patty and Karen both threw their arms around me and held me until I quit shaking.

"I guess I have to tell mom and Claude about this," I said, finally.

"I think that is a good idea," Karen said. "We won't say anything to mom about it unless dad decides to tell her."

"Okay, Sweety, let's get it done."

Karen drove us to her place and I found Claude in the barn. Karen and Patty went in the house while I talked to him.

I told Claude what Tiny had been doing to Patty and what I had told Tiny when we went to his place. Then I told him about the fight. "Claude, I didn't want to fight him. I fully intended to let the sheriff handle it. I took along the hose because I didn't know how he would react."

Claude sighed. "Okay, Ed. I can see why you had to do it. What you did was very dangerous. I just wish you had told me before you went over there. I don't think we need to tell Martha about this."

I thanked him and went to get Karen and Patty. They had decided they were going to spend the day over at our place, so we headed home.

"What did dad have to say?" Karen asked on the way over.

"He said he understood, but that he didn't think we should tell Martha."

"Okay. I agree. Mom hates violence. Even though you were in the right, she would be upset with you about it."

Mom was upset too. She wasn't as upset with me as she was with Patty for not telling her about what was happening.

Karen and I spent most of the day cuddled up in the recliner with my arm around her. At one point she pulled my arm down and pulled my head over on her chest just above her breasts. The side of my cheek was resting against one of her beautiful orbs.

After a while I raised my head and whispered in her ear, "You know I could almost bite your nipple from that position."

Karen giggled and said, "I know. I was thinking about that."

I put my head back down and snuggled in. When mom left the room a few minutes later, I gently bit Karen's boob. She and Patty were both giggling when mom came back in.

Patty and I didn't talk much that evening. She did thank me profusely for taking care of Tiny. We did do some snuggling and cuddling. You'd think that after cuddling all day with Karen, I'd have been cuddled out. That definitely wasn't the case.

Interlude

Winter is the slowest time of the year for farmers. Claude and I did a lot of talking between Thanksgiving and Christmas about crops. We talked about rotating crops, fallow years and the like. We also talked some about the advantages and disadvantages of a dairy farm or whether to raise beef for sale.

Karen and I spent that time becoming even closer to each other. We were both still virgins, but we did advance to the point where we would masturbate each other. I'm sure we'd have tried oral sex if we had a place to experiment, but a barn loft is a very cold place in the winter and the back seat of a car just seemed too cheap. We went to the hot tub twice more during that time, but on both occasions we took Patty with us.

Mom was still in a great mood. We still hadn't heard anything from dad and none of us missed him. Mom told us that she and dad hadn't been close for years. I could believe that because it would have been hard for anyone to be close to dad.

Tiny never bothered Patty again. Every time I'd see him he gave me a look of pure hatred, but I could live with that.

It looked like it was my time to grow. I grew another inch in height during that time. I was now five foot ten and I weighed in at 200 pounds. Karen was thrilled.

Day 64 Friday Christmas Eve

Patty still slept with me frequently and this morning was one of those mornings when I awoke with a beautiful girl in my arms. I kissed her on the nose and when that didn't wake her, I tickled her gently until she started to move.

She opened her eyes and smiled at me. We exchanged a soft kiss, then she said, "So, today is the day. When are you going to give it to her?"

"I was hoping I could get your assistance on that," I told her.

"How?"

"Could you invite her over this morning? I don't want to give it to her in the car or anything like that. I think it would be much nicer if I could give it to her in the living room."

"I can do that. Do you want me to disappear when you give it to her?"

"No, I'd like for you to stay and be a witness."

Patty threw her arms around me and kissed me. "Thank you, Ed. I'd like that."

"When she gets over here, I'll say I have something I have to do in the barn. I'll leave and come back in a couple of minutes with the ring."

Patty giggled and said, "Let's get the chores done, Bro."

She bounced out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

Karen came over around nine thirty. We hugged and kissed hello, then I told her there was something I had to take care of and that I'd be back in a few minutes.

Karen was sitting in an easy chair when I came back in and Patty was on the sofa. I went over in front of Karen and got down on one knee. Karen looked a little confused when I held her left hand.

"Karen Wellston, will you marry me?" I asked.

She was looking at me with wide eyes when she said, "Yes."

I took the ring out of my pocket and slipped it on her left hand. "Will you wear this ring to show the world you are engaged to me?" I asked.

Karen looked at the ring and her mouth fell open. It wasn't the biggest ring in the world, at 5/8 carets, but it was a very good quality stone and the setting was exquisite.

"Yes! Oh God yes!" Karen yelled and threw her arms around my neck. I glanced over at Patty and she had tears running down from her eyes. I motioned for her to come over and we included her in the hug.

Mom came in while we were still dripping tears. Karen held the ring up for her to see. Of course mom had already seen it, but she came over and kissed Karen on the forehead. "Welcome to the family," mom said.

Of course the ring was the main topic of conversation. "It is the most beautiful ring I've ever seen," Karen said. "I love you so much, Ed."

I assured her I loved her too. "We have to go over so I can show mom and dad," Karen said. Patty agreed it was something that couldn't be put off another second, so we loaded in the car and went over.

Claude was in the barn, so we went in to see him first. Karen held the ring up to him and burst out crying. Claude wrapped his daughter in his arms and comforted her. When she had finally calmed down, Claude extended his hand to me and we shook. I could see tears in his eyes as he held Karen. I don't know if they were tears of happiness for his daughter or tears of sadness that she would be leaving the nest.

I followed Karen up to the house so she could show the ring to her mother. I was a little concerned about how Martha would react, but she seemed genuinely pleased. Martha, Karen, and Patty shared a lot of tears.

Finally, Martha came over to me and hugged me. She kissed me on the cheek and said in almost a whisper, "I was a little worried when Karen said she was in love with you. Claude assured me you were a fine young man, but all I could see was someone who was trying to take my little girl away. Over the last couple of months, I've come to love you almost as much as my daughter does. I'm proud that you're going to be my son, Ed."

I couldn't help myself. I broke up. I hugged her and cried on her shoulder until Karen and Patty came over and hugged us both. After I had myself under control, I kissed her on both cheeks and said, "Thank you. I'll try to never make you sorry you accepted me into your family."

Day 65 Saturday - Christmas

To say that this was my best Christmas ever would have been a vast understatement. I awoke with Patty in my arms again. I had both arms around her and was just enjoying the feel of her now familiar body against me when mom came into the room.

I expected her to hit the roof, but she just came over to my side of the bed and sat down beside me. She put her hand on my shoulder and leaned over to look at Patty.

"She's beautiful when she's asleep, isn't she?" mom asked.

"Mom, she's beautiful 24/7. There's only one girl in the world that I think is as beautiful as Patty and that is Karen."

"I've known for a long time that she's been coming in here at night. I'm not upset about it or anything, so don't worry."

"Mom, there's nothing going on between Patty and me. I think she just gets lonely. I will admit that Patty and I are a lot closer than most brothers and sisters are at our ages. I think our love is different than most siblings have. If I'm being honest, if Patty wasn't my sister, I'd have probably fallen into romantic love with her before I even met Karen."

"Thank you, big brother," Patty said as she rolled over in my arms and kissed me. "Merry Christmas, Mom."

"Merry Christmas, Baby Girl. You guys slept late, so I thought I'd better wake you up."

"Oh, Christmas presents!" Patty said as she sat up. "I've got dibs on the bathroom." She bounced out of bed and ran for the bathroom.

Mom smiled, then laid down beside me. I put my arm around her and she laid her head on my shoulder. "Does Karen know that Patty sleeps in here a lot?"

"Yes, she knows. It doesn't upset her nearly as much as it does me. I've tried to talk Patty out of coming in here so much, but it doesn't do any good. She just waits until I go to sleep then comes in anyway."

Mom laid there for a minute, thinking, then she said, "I hate to tell you this, Ed, but I think Patty is in romantic love with you."

"Awh, Mom. I've been afraid of that. What should I do?"

"I don't know, Honey. A lot depends on how you feel about Patty and about how Karen feels about what you and Patty feel about each other. You have to be very careful. You don't want to hurt Karen and you don't want to hurt Patty."

"God, I know that."

Mom kissed me on the cheek and got up. As she headed for the door she said, "I have a lot of confidence in you, Ed. I know you'll do what you think is right."

Patty and I did our chores and then we had breakfast. That was always the routine before opening presents on Christmas. Mom was beaming as we took our seats around the tree.

"Santa" brought us our normal underwear, socks, shirts, and slacks. Then mom handed each of us a small box that couldn't have weighed over an ounce. "This is from me," she said with a smile.

We opened our boxes and found they both contained a key ring with a miniature computer on it. I looked up at mom and said, "Thank you, Mom."

Mom smiled and said, "The real computers these represent are in the barn. I'll let you guys carry them in."

Patty and I both tackled her and smothered her in hugs and kisses. Both of us had old computers we had bought used. Heck, they were still using the Windows 95 operating system.

Patty and I had gone together and bought mom a complete new outfit. It consisted of a coat, purse, skirt, blouse, bra and panties. They were of far better quality than mom was used to wearing. She was thrilled. We told her to wear that outfit when she started dating again.

I had gotten Patty a locket similar to the one I had gotten Karen for her birthday and she had gotten me a couple of books I had been wanting.

Claude, Martha, and Karen were going to be having Christmas dinner with us, but Patty and I decided we wanted to go over and exchange our gifts with them now.

We changed into our good clothes and drove over. Karen came running out on the porch when we got there. She was barefoot and was wearing a short nightgown. As I got onto the porch I laid my packages down in a chair. Karen threw her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, then she kissed me until my toes curled.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"Aren't people who are engaged supposed to be making love?" she asked in a whisper.

"I hope so," I whispered back.

I put Karen down and she helped me carry my packages in so we could each keep an arm around the other. Karen's family had already exchanged gifts and they were just sitting around enjoying each other when we came in. Martha asked if we'd like some hot chocolate and she went off to get it when Patty and I agreed.

I sat down in a comfortable arm chair and Karen snuggled up on my lap. I looked over at Claude and he just shook his head and smiled.

When Martha came back in, we sipped our chocolate for a minute, then Patty started handing out presents. I had gotten Claude a box of good cigars. When he opened them he was all smiles. Martha looked over at me and said, "Edward, you are just perpetuating a nasty habit. I'm ashamed of you." Then, she smiled at me and winked.

Martha liked the perfume I had gotten her and the blouse that Patty had gotten her. Patty gave Claude a new pocket knife and he told her he thought it would be great for whittling.

Claude and Martha gave me some books on farming and had bought Patty a new outfit. Patty and Karen exchanged their gifts and found they had gotten each other almost identical bracelets. Then it was time to exchange gifts with Karen.

Karen handed me a card and a box and whispered that I wasn't to open the card until later. I slid it in my pocket and opened the box. Inside was a photo album. It had pictures of Karen in it from the time she was a tiny baby until the present. I was so choked up I thought I was going to bawl like a baby.

I pulled Karen into a kiss. The kiss seemed to linger and finally, Patty said, "Get a room!"

Karen and I were both blushing when we reluctantly pulled apart. I handed Karen a small box that was about the size of a ring box. She looked at me strangely, then opened the box. Karen let out a squeal I'm sure mom could have heard.

She held the box out to Martha and asked if she'd help put them on. It was a set of diamond earrings that exactly matched her engagement ring.

Claude gave me a big smile and a wink as the women fussed over getting her earrings put in and secured. Then Karen came over and gave me another toe curling kiss.

I was broke. I had spent everything I had on Christmas. I was one happy young man though.

Patty and Karen took off so Karen could get dressed. After they had left, Martha said, "You have made my daughter very happy, Ed."

"She's made me very happy too, Martha. I know it has to be hard on you guys, seeing your daughter grow up, but you should be very proud as well. She is intelligent, loving, caring, and beautiful. I just hope we can have a long life together."

"So do I, Son," Martha said.

While we were driving back over to our place, I asked Patty if she'd mind if we dropped her off for a while. "I have something I'd like to talk with my fiancé about," I told her.