Chapter 15

Greetings had been exchanged and the guests shown their rooms in the Carter home. The next order of business was to relax. William stripped off his clothes and headed towards the pool. He jumped in feet first, reveling in the feel of cool water against his bare skin. Lucy and Ann, naked as well, slipped into the pool right behind him.

Before they had even moved a dozen feet from the edge, Betsy charged into the poolroom throwing off her clothes even as she ran. Without pause, she jumped into the pool while shouting, "Chicken fight!"

Ann turned and looked at the young woman swimming towards her. At the last moment, Betsy stopped, stood up, and, excitedly said, "Climb on my shoulders. We'll show them what we can do."

"I'm too heavy," Ann started to say. Even before she had managed to complete the words, she felt Betsy's head between her legs. Less than a second later, she was on Betsy's shoulders and moving towards William. She waved her arms around trying to maintain her balance.

Knowing that Betsy was not to be denied, William helped Lucy onto his shoulders. They didn't stand a chance against the charging dynamo. Before they had even gotten set, Betsy was there in front of them. With a gentle push and a very large smile, Ann sent Lucy into the water. Lucy came up sputtering and trying to clear her hair out of her face.

Despite the strangeness associated with being naked while a young woman had her head between her legs, Ann was laughing at the expression on William's face. She could tell that he was going to say they cheated. She said, "All's fair in love and war. I do believe that Chicken Fights do count as war."

Betsy echoed her amusement with laughter. William rolled his eyes and, with a smile, said, "I guess it was a war, although I would have chosen the term ambush."

Lunging forward to hug William, Betsy said, "Ah, it's good to see you smiling William."

Ann found herself falling back into the water when Betsy moved out from under her. With the reversal of the previous situation, she found she was the one sputtering while Lucy was laughing.

Ever moving, Betsy circled around them like a shark cutting through the water. She said, "You guys are fun."

Winking at Lucy, William said, "How about a race, Betsy?"

"Normal rules?" asked the young woman with a glow in her eyes.

"Yes," answered William as he moved to the end of the pool. He took his time knowing that no matter how fast he moved that Betsy would beat him there. She danced in place waiting for him.

"On your mark, get set, go!" shouted Betsy as she took off.

Without even making the effort of swimming a lap, William watched his sister generate waves as she cut through the water. Seeing that he was still standing there, Lucy asked, "What are normal rules?"

"She swims three laps for every lap I'm to swim," answered William.

"Why aren't you swimming?" Lucy asked watching the girl cut through the water. Betsy was already at the other end of the pool and on her way back. There was no way William could win even under those rules.

"I don't need to swim. We just take it for granted that I lose."

Lucy burst out laughing at his flat delivery of the statement. Pointing to Betsy, Lucy asked, "Does she know that you don't swim?"

"Of course," William answered. Even when they were little, he could find ways for her to keep busy without requiring him to put in half the energy used by Ling to achieve the same result. It drove Ling nuts.

Ann had listened to the exchange with a grin. She couldn't believe that the thirteen-year-old girl had such energy. She swam over to William and asked, "Is she going to compete in the Olympics?"

"My brother Eddie is helping her train in track and field. She'll be ready in two years," answered William.

"Does she ever slow down?" Ann asked watching her cut through the water. It looked to her like Betsy had started moving faster after the first lap.

"Only when she goes to bed. She goes from moving to absolutely still in one minute," William answered.

"How about in school?"

"She's always moving, even in school. Finding a way of keeping her there was tough. After considering a lot of options, we settled on setting up an exercise bike in the back of the room. It cost a small fortune to create one that was quiet enough not to disturb the class. It works and allows her to attend school like a normal kid," Ling answered from poolside. She had entered the room in time to hear the last exchange between William and Ann.

"Is she like William?" Ann asked wanting to know if she was as smart as William.

"Nobody's like William," Ling said as she striped out of her clothes. She meant it in every way possible.

"Thanks, Mom," said William taking it as a compliment.

Ling entered the pool at the same time Betsy arrived next to William and announced, "I won. Do you want to race again?"

After three races in which William hadn't even moved, William, Lucy, and Ann left pool with him claiming that so much racing had tired him out. They relaxed and watched Betsy swim laps at a furious pace. Still in the water, Ling coached Betsy despite the fact that the girl didn't need any help.

Ann and Lucy exchanged meaningful looks with Ann nodding her head and Lucy shaking hers. Deciding to take the initiative that Lucy wouldn't take, Ann asked, "Why don't you show Lucy your bedroom? I'm sure she would love to see the room that you grew up in."

"I really haven't spent much time at this house. Although this was my home, it isn't really the place where I grew up," answered William ducking the real intent of her suggestion. He didn't like the idea of sneaking off for a furtive grope. When he and Lucy were going to engage in physical intimacy for the first time, he wanted it to be an act of love and not lust. He said, "I lived nine years at the Druid College, four years at the Native American College, and a year on the reservation."

It has hard for Ann and Lucy to know how to react. On the one hand, what he said reflected a life that was sad in many ways and deserved comment. On the other hand, it sounded like he was totally oblivious to the opportunity that was being given him and that deserved comment. Ann and Lucy exchanged another glance. Finally, Lucy said, "That's sad."

"That's one of the things about my childhood that made my mothers unhappy, but it was for the best. I'd have gone crazy without the opportunity to develop to my full potential," said William.

Ann was about to make a comment to the effect that he had missed her point, but William raised a hand to stop her from speaking. In a very serious tone of voice, he said, "I'm not totally oblivious to the implications of your suggestion for taking her to my bedroom. However, I'd rather pursue that at a time and place of my own choosing."

Turning to face Lucy, he asked, "Would you care to walk through the garden with me?"

"Yes," answered Lucy, grateful for the distraction. She had not wanted her mother to make the suggestion since she shared William's attitude that their first time together should be special.

Ann watched the young couple leave the poolroom. From beside her, Ling said, "I see that William hasn't lost his touch in driving people crazy."

"What is it? I give him a chance to be alone with Lucy and he totally ignores it. You'd think that after a year of being with her, he'd be a little horny by now," Ann said.

Resting a hand on Ann's arm, Ling said, "He understands the difference between lust and love, sex and making love. When he and Lucy finally get together, it is going to be special."

"Oh." She didn't know if she believed that.

"In a way, I envy her. I thought it was love the first time I was ever with a man, but I was wrong. It was lust and I was crushed as a result."

Ann understood what Ling was saying. Her first time had been disappointing. She'd been too young and too eager to satisfy a young man interested in only one thing. Nodding, she said, "Same here."

"Lucy is going to experience heaven. He's going to take her to places that few women have ever been," said Ling with a sigh. She hadn't experienced that kind of heaven until she had slept with John Carter. That had been a magic evening.

"What about him?"

"William will take care of William," answered Ling knowing there was a lot of truth in that statement.

The next day, Ann sat at the end of the conference table listening to Cathy, Linda, and Ling discuss the wedding. Her jaw dropped when Cathy said, "I think a budget of ten million should be sufficient. Of course, that depends on the location."

Ling said, "We've got double that allocated, so don't worry about location. Any place is fine with me, but I'm not all that wild about the reservations or colleges. They are just too isolated."

"I want the best for William," said Linda. Seeing the questioning expression on Ling's, she said, "I agree that the last places we should consider are the reservations and the colleges."

Satisfied with Linda's answer, Ling turned to Ann and asked, "Where would you like it?"

"I have no idea," Ann answered barely able to breathe. Her mind had gone blank upon hearing them talk about spending twenty million dollars on the wedding.

"You've got the whole world to choose from," said Linda.

"The whole world?" Ann looked over at Cathy as if lost.

"If there are a couple of places that Lucy has always wanted to visit, we could have the wedding in one and they could have the honeymoon in the other," said Ling. Seeing the look on Ann's face, she added, "That's what we did for Beth and John."

"Oh."

Linda said, "We can just ask William. He'll know where it is going to be held."

"You're kidding?" Ann asked looking as the other women around the table nodded their heads in agreement.

"Not at all. William knows everything we decide before we even decide it," said Linda.

Ann laughed in disbelief. Joking, she said, "So throw a dart at a map and pick the nearest large city. We'll have the wedding there."

Ling and Linda looked at each other for a few seconds as smiles grew on their faces. Even if William knew where it was going to be held, it would bug him trying to figure out why it was held there. Linda said, "I'll get the map."

"I'll get a knife," said Ling.

Seeing that her joke was being taken seriously, Ann stared as the women left the room. Cathy was laughing and said, "I'm sure you didn't mean it, but after being outguessed by William for years your idea is perfect."

Ten minutes later, Ann stepped back, ripped off her blindfold, and declared, "The wedding will be held in Cheyenne, Wyoming."

Ann's voice had faltered when she announced the name of the town. She bent down and examined the map with a frown. Ling stepped over and looked down at the map. Looking up, Ling asked, "Cheyenne Wyoming?"

"What's in Cheyenne Wyoming?" Ann asked.

"I've got no idea," Cathy said looking at the map. The knife had cut the map right over the center of the town. Shaking her head, she said, "I don't think it will support an event this big."

"The nearest large city is Denver," said Linda.

"Denver is good," Ann said.

"I agree, Denver is good."

Cathy made a note on her pad of paper and said, "Denver it is. I'll identify a couple of wedding consultants from Denver and have them fly in for an interview. We should be ready to interview them in three or four days. How would you like to handle the interviews?"

When Cathy turned to look at her, Ann didn't know how to answer the question. She'd never interviewed anyone before. Lost by everything that had happened, she asked, "What do you suggest?"

"I suggest that we give each of them an idea of the scale of the wedding and allow each to tell us what they would do. You pick the one whose vision is the closest to what you would like," answered Cathy.

"Okay," Ann replied thinking that it sounded easy enough.

While the mother's were selecting the city where the wedding would be held, Walt stopped the van in front of the sign advertising that the property was for sale. Gesturing to the wide open space around them, he said, "We're here."

The real estate agent, Natalie, was seated next to Walt in the front of the van. She was in her early forties and basically unhappy. She wasn't an unattractive woman, although she wore her makeup a little heavy to hide the lines on her face. Divorced by a cheating husband, she had gone into real estate out of necessity. She was desperate for a big sale and didn't know what to make of having a pair of teenagers for clients. Natalie said, "The owner said he'd meet us out here."

"How much land is it?" asked William.

"Forty square miles. That's 25660 acres of land," answered Natalie checking her property sheet. The sheet had all of the vital statistics about the property, a map, and an aerial photograph. It was a lot of land with nothing on it as far as she was concerned. Frowning, she said, "It's not very productive. I guess that explains the asking price of fifty an acre."

"You say it is adjacent to the reservation."

"Yes, it has about a mile border with it," answered Natalie. She looked out over the land and wondered who would want to buy such a desolate place.

William turned to Lucy and asked, "What do you think of it?"

"I don't know. It's kind of big and flat," said Lucy looking out the window of the van.