Chapter 5

It was six a.m. and someone was knocking on the front door at the Phillips' ranch house. Amber went to the door to see who it was. "Missy! You're here awfully early."

"I have the gang here, and we're ready to work." Missy was very bubbly in spite of the early hour.

Beth hollered from the kitchen, "Have you had breakfast yet Missy?"

"No ma'am, some of them aren't even good awake," Missy was thinking of Tommy who had slept all the way to the ranch.

Beth walked into the front room where Amber and Missy were, "Well get them in here, it will take just a minute to fix some more. Amber can you go speed up Don and the others?"

Missy left to go get the other kids and Amber went to see what was keeping Don, other than Rose and Kim who had awoke horny that morning. Going back to the room Amber said, "Missy is here with her painting crew."

Don blushed then rushed to get his pants on, Rose and Kim were already getting dressed and Kiesha had just got out of the shower. Amber went back to the kitchen to help Beth who was wondering how many Missy had brought.

Missy walked in with five sleep deprived zombies following her. Amber turned to Beth and grinned, "Got enough for six more?"

"Sure get the rest of the eggs out of the fridge would you Amber?"

"Sure Mom, what else do we need," Amber asked

Beth turned and looked at Amber, her smile widening. She walked to Amber and pulled her into a hug, "I like being called Mom," Beth said and then went back to the stove.

Don and the girls come into the kitchen to find it almost full. Missy took it on her self to introduce the girls to the kids she had drafted for painting. Don was surprised at the people who had showed up. Missy smiled and shook her head, "Don why are you so surprised? You have helped every one of these people here. I called them and everyone except Tommy was anxious to come; he just wanted to wait till afternoon when he'd got his nap out."

It's generally considered that a man's worth can be measured by the friends he has that can do nothing for him. Most people knew that Don's family had money, lots and lots of money. There had been some that had tried to hang on to Don's coattails hoping to share in that wealth. The people sitting at the table with him now were not any of those folks. Tommy Ramos had taken half a bottle of sleeping pills when Don had found him. The reason he was looking for him was that Don had heard of the two bullies beating and raping him. Don had used his money to hire a lawyer that had put pressure on the local authorities to arrest the two boys even if it did cost the school a district football championship. His actions had netted him a lot of hate mail and phone calls, but it had also earned him the undying gratitude of Tommy's father.

The other four people that had come with Missy all had similar stories. And then there was Missy. Missy Adams and Kiesha had a lot in common, both had fathers that had absolutely no right to be one. Missy's Dad had started molesting her at the beginning of her junior year in high school. Don knew her, though not that well, but he did notice when she started withdrawing from her friends. After a football game one Friday night he had invited her to go out for pizza. She was surprised at the invitation, but accepted none the less. In the Tank on the way back to her house he confronted her about what was troubling her. It had been her undoing, she had thought that she was fooling everyone. As it turned out everyone but Don, Don had held her as she cried out her hurt. When she was recovered Don went in with her to tell her mother, it had not been a pretty sight. Her mother didn't want to believe her. It wasn't until Don explained that he could not in good conscience let Missy stay with her mother if there was a chance that she would be molested that her mother had even considered not allowing her husband to stay at home. It had been a hard year since that had happened and on three occasions Missy had showed up at the Phillips' ranch looking for a place to sleep when her father had come to spend time with her mother.

This morning everyone seemed cheerful and happy but Missy seemed to be distracted. Rose walked up to her and hugged her, "What's wrong?" Missy wanted to say nothing but that would have been a lie. Rose saw the tear drops starting to form, she put her arm around her new friend and walked her back to their bedroom. There Missy poured out her heart. It only took hearing a little of her story to know that Kiesha was the one to help with this. "Just a minute," Rose said to her. Rose went to the door and opened it. She called to Kiesha who came right away.

"Now," Rose started, "tell Kiesha what's happening."

Missy desperately needed a tissue but before she could ask for one Rose had handed her one of Don's bandannas. "My father came home last night, he's moving back in with my mother. He said if anyone was moving out it had to be me."

Kiesha didn't have to be told that Missy had been molested by her father. She could feel it. "Don doesn't know about this does he?"

Missy simply shook her head, she felt that it wouldn't be right to ask to stay at the Phillips' now that Don had found the answer to his dreams.

"And," Kiesha started, "you don't want to say anything to him because of us." Missy's head popped up and she stared at Kiesha, how could she know that. "And you are also in love with Don aren't you?"

Missy's tears fell like rain. She nodded her head and through her tears sobbed, "He is the only person I have ever loved. I didn't realise how much I loved him until all of you came by the other day. I felt so empty after y'all left. I so much want what you have." Missy was barely able to get her words out before collapsing into a sobbing heap. A silent conversation flashed between Kiesha and Rose, they both knew the answer to the problem. What they didn't know was if Don knew what the answer was. At the end of their wordless talk Rose walked out of the room and brought back Amber and Kim. Leaving Kiesha to explain everything, Rose went back to the kitchen to help Beth. Kiesha looked at Missy, "Missy look at me. I need to do something."

Missy looked up at Kiesha through tear fogged eyes. Kiesha moved closer and then she kissed Missy. Kiesha felt it as it all passed through her, anger, shame, doubt and pain. All the same things she had felt from her father and it made her sick. She broke the kiss and ran to the bathroom spewing vomit as she went.

Missy had been surprised when Kiesha kissed her but as their lips met she had felt all of the hurt flow out of her body. All the horrible feelings her father made her feel just evaporated with the kiss that Kiesha gave her. Then she watched as Kiesha got violently ill. Kim went to help her as Amber sat holding Missy and telling her that everything would be all right from now on. And Missy believed that with all her heart. She had felt the weight lift from her shoulders. She had a new life now, a new life with a new family. For the first time in many years Missy was truly happy.

A questioning glance to Rose as to what was going on from Don was answered with a hug and a kiss, "Not to worry it's a little problem and your wives are taking care of it."

Don smiled to himself was it another piece of the puzzle fitting into place? How long he wondered until all of the pieces would mesh together?

With breakfast over and the mess cleaned up it was time to get started. Don called the girls from the bedroom. When he saw Missy it was plain to see that she had been crying but it was also plain to see that she was very happy right now. He had to admit his curiosity was piqued. Before they could get away from Jack and Beth's house Del Ramos, Tommy's father, showed up with the men that worked on his paint crew. The six foot six inch bear of a man grabbed Don and pulled him into a hug.

"What?" he said, "Did you really think I was going to let this bunch of amateur paint slingers make a mess out of your new house?"

Don shook his head and smiled, "Come on then, follow us." Don went to get into his new truck and found he had one more passenger than he had expected. Missy sat in the middle of the front seat with Kiesha beside her and both grinning ear to ear.

Don was about to ask what was going on when Amber laughed and said, "Get in, sit down, shut up and drive. When we need you to know something we'll be sure and tell you." Amber leaned forward and kissed Don's cheek, followed by Missy and Rose giving him kisses as well. Kim and Kiesha being on the outside told him he would get their kiss at the house.

Don drove to the house leading the volunteer painters. Once at the house Don showed Del what he had done and what still needed to be done. Listening to Del's suggestions they assigned jobs and everyone went to work. The painting went very quickly. It helped that Don had finished all of the prep work. The only problem was the lack of light in some of the interior rooms and the hallways that connected them.

That meant Don's first job was to start the surplus diesel generator that he had bought. After checking the oil and water levels Don pushed the button on the electric starter. The skid mounted Detroit diesel roared to life. After letting it warm up Don threw the breaker that sent the power to the house. The five hundred gallon fuel tank had just over a hundred gallons in it and at a little over two gallons per hour they had just over fifty hours of power. That would be plenty since the guys that were going to install the solar system would be there today or tomorrow.

Del had watched Don starting up the generator and asked, "How much did the utility company want to bring power in here?"

"Well," Don started, "they said that they couldn't come off the line at Mom and Dad's since it was maxed out. So for a mere thirty eight thousand they would gladly run power in here. The solar system I am putting in is only going to cost a little over twenty five thousand. And if one of the oil companies ever brings power in I can always sell my excess." Don made sure all the breakers were on save the dressing room where he still had to wire up outlets and lights.

While Del and Don were getting the generator going the girls were being told how Don had helped each of the friends that had come out to help. The stories the group told painted a picture the girls understood all too well. They had all felt Don's healing touch and knew what it was like to have him take away the pain.

As they were leaving the generators in the physical plant Del had to ask, "How long have you been building on this?"

Don sighed, "A little over three years. It took me three months to figure out the easy way to do it."

"Oh yeah, how's that?" Del asked.

Don opened a door and they walked into the huge five bay garage. Opening one of the garage doors they walked outside, "Do you see that faint line there on the side of the hill?" Del nodded his head so Don continued, "at first I was going to tunnel in and insert the precast concrete pieces but that didn't work. These hills are just loose rock, dirt, and gravel so I ended up with excavated trenches for the hallways and big holes for the rooms. Then I went in and landscaped the native plants back in."

"So the hallways are precast units," Del asked.

"Yeah," Don laughed, "you remember last year all the rumours about the government building a secret base?"

Del started laughing, he tried to stop but it only made him laugh more, "You gotta love living in a small west Texas town, Don't worry. I'll swear all my guys to secrecy. They can just say they spent the day painting the secret base. That'll give the wagging tongues something to work on." Del was looking over the hill that the house was built into, "Where do you get your water from Don?"

"There's a well in the physical plant and there is a cistern system that will hold 420 thousand gallons of water. It is set up to take water off of that draw on the south side of the hill."

Don let Del check on the painting while he went to the dressing room. In less than an hour he had the outlets and makeup lights installed in the dressing room/closet. Just as he was finishing his stomach gave a growl. That made him realise that he hadn't made plans for lunch, He was about to go outside to use his two way radio when his Mom and Dad showed up with lunch for everyone.

Jack got Don to help him set up the three folding tables that he'd brought. While they were doing that Missy and Rose were unloading a bunch of folding chairs. The tables and chairs were set up in the garage area so that Beth could spread out cold cuts, cheeses, bread, and other sandwich fixings along with two gallons of ice tea and a tub full of cold sodas. It didn't take long for food to displace the conversation.

Just after lunch the contractors came to put in the solar electric system. Don showed them where the physical plant was and part of the crew went to work installing the control panels and the racks for the batteries. The solar panels were to be installed on the top of the hill that the house was built into. Don showed the foreman the road that wound around to the top of hill and told him he would meet him there in a minute. Going inside he saw Missy, "Missy would you go tell the girls I have to go up to where the crew is setting up the panels."

Missy smiled, giggled and said, "Sure thing sweetie." Then she kissed him. She had meant for it to just be a quick peck, but as soon as her lips met his both of them were in trouble. "Wow!" Missy exhaled, "they were right," then she gave him the quick kiss on the cheek she had originally intended. "I'll go tell them right now." She left and it almost looked as though she was floating on air.

Don stood there for what seemed like maybe five minutes before shaking his head as though that would clear the jumble of thoughts ricocheting around in his head. Remembering the foreman and his crew he headed back to the physical plant. When Don had designed his mostly underground house he wanted to make sure that all of the systems were easy to access. He didn't want say for instance the conduit that held the wires bringing the power from the solar panels to the physical plant to be just buried in the ground where he would have to dig then up in order to repair them should they ever need it. He struggled with the answer to this problem until one night while watching one of the Star Trek DVDs he saw the answer. Jefferies tubes, the access tunnels on the Enterprise. [[See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffries_tube

Once he had hit on that for the solution everything fell into place. Don, his Dad and his Mom, had made a trip to Corpus Christi. There Don was able to buy water tight hatches that had been scrapped off of naval vessels. It was one of those that Don now opened and ducked into. He climbed up a forty foot ladder to another similar hatch. He turned the wheel that released the dogs that held the hatch closed and since he had turned on the generators there was air pressure to allow the air cylinder to open the heavy hatch. Don climbed out to face a very surprised foreman.

"We wondered what that hatch was hiding," Steve Meeks, the foreman said with a smile as he tried to hide his intense interest in this house.

"That leads down to the physical plant." Pointing to a four inch conduit with a pipe cap screwed on it, "According to the blueprints that you sent me your control panels should be set right there. You brought the bolts that we talked about?"

"Yeah," Steve started, "I've never set bolts that way. You say we should just drill the holes where we need them, put the bolt in, and then fill the hole with melted sulphur? We usually just use the hammer in type."

"You have any idea how hard the wind can blow across this little hill?" Don saw the realization set in on Steve's face.

"Yeah, I guess this is a little more out in the open."

"Well don't worry once those bolts are sulphured in, they are almost impossible to get out. There's a pull rope already fished through the conduit and all of the turns have 'pull ells' on them." Don saw Steve smile when he heard the effort he had gone to make pulling the wire as simple as it could be. "I'll leave you guys to it, just be careful going up and down that ladder. There is a climbing rig on the hatch landing if you need it." Steve followed Don back to the hatch and down to the landing just below the surface. Don showed him the climbing rig and how to open and close the hatch if they needed. Don was about to go find the girls when he remembered the intercom.

"Steve," Don opened a small panel by the hatch opening controls, "if something comes up and you need me just pick up that handset and push that button and I can pick it up in the house."

Don walked over to the ladder and hooked his boots on the outside of the ladder and slid down as he had a hundred times since putting it in. Don's Dad had always told him "timing is everything"; Kim had just asked one of the men installing the panels if he had seen Don. He had simply pointed to the open hatch and said he went in there fifteen or twenty minutes ago. Kim had just stepped through the hatch when Don dropped to floor right in front of her, she screamed and then slapped Don before she even realised who it was.

"You scared the hell out of me!" Kim shouted at him her body still running on an adrenalin overdose.

Don was making an exaggerated effort out of rubbing his face where she'd slapped him. That's when it had dawned on her what she'd done, "Oh Baby, I didn't mean to slap you." She launched into his arms, where he caught her. Kim wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and was smothering him in kisses. Kim's recently awakened sex drive shifted into overdrive as she started grinding the crotch of her paint spattered running shorts against Don's crotch.

Don watched as the heads of two of the electricians poked through the opened hatch, "Kim, sweetie we're not alone."

Kim's head spun around, saw the two grinning workmen, then spun right back around and buried in Don's chest. "Oh God! I'm so embarrassed."

Don let her slide to the floor but kept hold of her hand, "Come on, I want a Dr. Pepper." They ducked back through the hatch and into the area where the two men were working.

"I take it that's your girlfriend," the younger of the electricians asked.

"She's one of them." Don and Kim left the room giggling with both men staring at them mouths agape. They stopped in the garage long enough to grab one of the ice chests full of soft drinks and carried them to the rest of the crew.

"Just like a blister," Tommy laughed as he walked into the room. Kiesha raised a Spockish eyebrow at Tommy she had heard many of his idioms while working with him today but she didn't get this one. "Don, he's just like a blister, he shows up when the works all done." Tommy explained, Kiesha grinned and nodded her understanding of this newest saying.

"I'd like to know why he has a wet spot on the front of his jeans," Amber quizzed.

Don looked down to see the spot left by Kim's earlier activity and just grinned. Kim looked at it and turned blaze red and put her hands over her face. Don reached for her and pulled her into a hug that made it twice in ten minutes that she had been embarrassed. It took several minutes for the laughter to die down.

When it did Don asked where they were at and what needed to be done next. He was surprised to hear that they just about had the second coats on everything. "Well," Don started, "we need to unload that trailer. Most of it will need to be stored in the garage but the kitchen stuff could be put up unless you want to wait." Don looked to the girls, the girls looked to Amber who said, "Let's just store it all till after the floors and furniture are in."

So all eleven teenagers trooped to the garage and less than ten minutes later the trailer was empty. Just as they finished Jack and Beth drove up and got out. "When is your furniture supposed to be here?" Jack asked.

"Saturday," Don replied.

Jack cocked his head and gave Don that look that said, 'Oh yeah?' Don's hand went to his head, "Oh Shit! Dad I forgot. I really did." Don walked over to his truck and using the key pad on the microphone called Mary at the furniture store. It must have helped because of the size of the sale; Mary was able to reschedule the delivery for Friday afternoon.

Don walked back to where everyone was standing. "What's that all about?" Rose asked.

"Well I forgot we have to go help some friends gather all the livestock on a ranch they are buying. We're going to be very busy Saturday and Sunday, maybe even Monday."

"We better get through painting then," Kiesha reminded them. So off they went to finish up.

Twice Don had watched as Missy interacted with the girls, it was something he had wondered about. He knew that only the girls could make the necessary changes that the relationship would need, he could only roll with the flow.