Chapter 52: Home

Anne met Will and Mary's plane. Waiting for the bags, Anne clung to Will, kissing him and hugging. When they got home, Mary started the round of hugs with the others, Anne took Will upstairs.

At supper, Sigrid said, "Should we call them, Mary?"

"No, Sigrid, let's make up a tray. I'll take it up."

Alex went with her, knocked on the door and opened it. Mary went in with the tray. Will and Anne were lying in the bed, spent but joined. Anne's face shone with joy. Mary set the tray on a table beside them, gave each a kiss and left.

In the Big Bed that evening, Mary and Saul were making love when the intercom rang. Tom picked it up. After Mary and Saul had finished and were resting, Tom said, "That was Anne, Saul. She said, 'Tell Saul, when he has had time to welcome Mary home, that we need him'."

In a little while, Saul went upstairs.

Alex said, "Gee, Mary, it's sure good to have you home. I really missed your cooking." Mary threw a cushion at his head.

The swimming pool had been dug out and scrubbed, the drain pipe cleaned as far as possible. There were cracks in the concrete of the pool, but the walls were still plumb.

The pool contractor came, made some tests. "It's crazy, but the drain and other piping seems to be okay. You'll have to Gunnite or epoxy the inside to seal it, but once you do that, you just need to replace the pump, heater and filter. I'll give you an estimate."

Above Still Waters Graphics, the loft apartment became vacant. They rented it, cleaned and painted, and built a partition. The downstairs door was re-painted a conservative, deep glossy blue with a small brass plate above the doorbell:

Still Waters
Erotic Art

In the front room hung the Nudes and Erotics. In the back, the Explicits. There was a small office.

Tom reported: "That building is flammable, so nothing there is original. They're all in the gallery here. Next week, Alex and I'll put up a partition on the east end downstairs here. I think it's a good time to do the south wall, too. The front of the new room can be a tool room and workshop. In the back we'll make a computer room and install the servers where we've archived the images. We'll have the high-speed telephone line in at the beginning of the month."

"We've been talking to a lot of other campuses," Anne said. "I've got several qualified prospects for franchises on the Graphics products. I think we can have one or two in place for the fall term."

Dan and Consuela drove in one Thursday and Mary went with them to unload the horses. At the house, they learned the pleasures of the sauna and met the group. They spent the rest of their stay sleeping on the Big Bed with the rest.

That Sunday, after working hard with the horses the day before, they all went with Mary to a minor county show. She rode The Bay and took first place in one event, took first in another on Hero.

"They're both a lot better, Dan. You really did a fine job with them."

"Thanks, Mary, but they're very good to begin with, and you had them ready. You and Consuela and I should be a team."

"Well, I'm going to enter the big Labor Day show: we'll see if this is a fluke or not."