Chapter 26

Once we'd finished lunch and cleaned up the mess I grabbed a handful of the baby carrots and the four of us made our way out to the corral. Peggy was so full of energy and excitement I thought she might burst, bouncing around on her toes and darting forward then running back to rejoin us, urging us all to hurry.

The horses weren't as leery of us as they'd been the day before and approached with no coaxing or effort from me. Izzy and Lilly fed carrots to the adults and Peggy focused her attention on the two younger animals.

I was worried that her exuberance might frighten the pair of juveniles, but they both seemed quite taken with her and not the least bit hesitant in allowing her to pet them.

I approached the three slowly and linked with the horses. They weren't so pleased at my presence, but tolerated me rather than leave Peggy. I sent them calm, soothing feelings, no danger, no menace, no threat.

She probably wasn't aware of it, but Peggy was broadcasting. Her pleasure, joy, excitement and happiness flowed from her like ripples on a pond and the horses were responding more to her than to me.

I ran my hand over the young horse's neck and shoulder, gave him a firm pat on the side and continued sending calm, positive feelings.

"Are you ready to try riding Peggy?"

"Can I really?" Her eager enthusiasm was infectious and I couldn't help sharing it.

"I think he's willing. But be very careful, we don't have a saddle so you'll have to hold on with your legs and arms. And don't hurt or scare him."

"I wouldn't do that." She promised.

I put my hands around her waist and lifted her up and placed her up near the young horse's shoulders.

Peggy was enraptured, her legs spread wide over his back she leaned down and pressed herself against the horse's neck.

"Oooooh... pretty, pretty horse. So strong and brave." She sighed and closed her eyes, laying her face along his emerging mane.

The horse 'huffed' a couple of times and then turned away from me and began walking slowly around the fence line.

The remaining youngster butted me with his head, so I fed him a couple of carrots while keeping a close eye on Peggy and her new friend.

The pair of them made a complete circuit of the corral at a sedate walk, Peggy still clinging to the horse's neck. When they reached my position again, Peggy sat up and laughed loudly with delight and the horse started to prance then broke into a gentle canter. Peggy clung on with her legs and hands tight in his mane, bouncing up and down and crowing with joy.

Izzy and Lilly cheered her on, clapping their hands and whooping loudly.

As they finished their second lap the other horses joined them and the tiny herd formed up and galloped around and around the corral, increasing their pace with each lap.

Peggy was in heaven. Shrieking out her laughter and screaming with pleasure, the biggest, widest smile on her face. And her broadcasting increased in power, hitting all of us and giving me a bad case of the shivers. Damn it felt good.

Somewhere around lap twenty they began to slow and then came to a stop, except for the young male with Peggy perched on his back. He came up to me and dipped his head several times.

"Thanks." I whispered as I gave him the rest of the carrots. When he'd eaten them all I moved around his side and lifted Peggy off his back, holding her in my arms like a baby.

The horse turned his head on his long muscular neck and looked at her. She reached out and ran her hand over his muzzle.

He whinnied and pulled away, rejoining his family. I carried Peggy over to the corral gate, slipped the latch, stepped thru and closed it. Izzy and Lilly came running up, bubbling with questions.

I set Peggy down and she and the girls began talking a mile a minute. I stepped away and returned to the fence, watching the horses.

Suddenly a small body slammed into me, arms wrapped around my waist in a bone crushing grip. I looked down at Peggy's upturned face.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!! That was the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me."

I put my hand on her cheek and smiled. "Don't thank me. You did it all by yourself."

I knelt down and kissed her on the forehead. "You were broadcasting, sweetie, just like I do. You were so happy and excited..." I nodded in the direction of the little herd, "they could tell, they could feel what you were feeling and they liked it. They like you."

She hugged me hard. "I love you."

"I love you too Peggy." She released her grip on my neck. I stood up and we walked hand in hand back to Izzy and Lilly and the three of us went back into the house.

The girls decided to go play in the rec room. I told them I'd be in the library, reading, if they needed me for anything. I spent a very nice couple of hours just looking at all the volumes, taking one out now and again to scan a few pages then putting it back and continuing on to the next.

Eventually I sat down in the room's leather recliner with a first edition of Robert E. Lee's Recollections and Letters, losing myself in his words.

The next thing I knew, Lilly was standing in the door, knocking on the oaken door to get my attention.

"Dinner's ready."

I made a mental note of my place in the book, got to my feet and put the book back in the bookcase I'd taken it from.

Lilly and I walked to the dining room, her arm around my waist, mine around her shoulders.

"You really like to read, don't you?" she asked.

"Yup. It's one of my four favorite things in the entire world."

"Oh yeah? What are the other three?" she enquired as we stepped into the dining room where Izzy and Peggy were waiting for us.

"My four favorite things in all the world are you..." I bent down and kissed her then moved to Peggy and kissed her, "... and you..." then stepped up to Izzy and kissed her, "... and you..." then sat down at the table, "... and reading."

They rushed into the kitchen and returned with steaming plates of broiled chicken, bowls of potatoes and peas, and a wicker basket filled with biscuits.

"Wow... you guys have been busy."

"Nah, just a little something we whipped up." Izzy said.

"Well I'm impressed. This is terrific, thank you all."

They were beaming as they took they seats and we started eating. The conversation was light, most of our attention given to the excellent food. About half way thru the meal I got up.

"Be right back." I said and went out into the kitchen.

I'd come across one other door in my wanderings during the previous day that I wanted to check. The door was unlocked, so I opened it and discovered a set of stairs that led down. This house had a cellar. I thought there might be something interesting at the bottom. I flipped on the light switch at the top of the stairs and went down.

The walls of the cellar were lined with racks of bottles. I grinned and pulled a couple out and examined the labels. Some were very old, some were more recent vintages. There were reds, whites, blushes, zinfandels, champagnes, bottles of brandy, and things I'd never heard of. I took one bottle of red and one white and headed back up.

Poking around in the utensil drawers I found a corkscrew. I hunted up four wine glasses and went back out to the dining room.

The girls applauded my discovery and we all had glasses of wine with our meal.

"Lilly, have you thought about what you'd like to do? I mean career wise?"

She sipped her wine and was very thoughtful. "I want to be a mother. More than anything, that's what I want. Stay home and raise my children."

"How about you, squirt. What would you like to do?"

Peggy was still bursting with excitement and energy. "Horses! I want to work with horses!"

We all grinned at her pronouncement.

"Do you like any other animals?" Izzy asked her.

"Oh, sure. I like all animals. But I love horses!"

"Ever thought about being a vet?" Lilly asked her.

Peggy calmed down slightly and was still, looking around at us. "I could do that?"

"You can do pretty much anything you want to. You're young and smart and have more energy than any five people I know."

"I thought I was gonna stay with you." Her voice was sad and very disappointed.

"Peggy, you don't have to leave us. Not if you don't want to." I said.

I leaned back and looked around.

"I've had this conversation with Izzy, but I guess it's time to say it again. I don't want to own you. Your lives belong to you, not me. If you chose to share your lives with me, wonderful; nothing would make me happier. But more than anything I want you to do things that will make you happy. If Lilly wants to stay at home and raise children, then she should and I'll do everything I can to make that happen. Izzy wants to teach. I want her to be able to do that. Peggy wants horses. If you want to be a vet, we'll send you to school and you can be a vet. If you just want to raise horses, we'll find a way for you to do that. I want you to be happy, whatever you decide."

I took a deep breath. "And if you ever feel you'd be happier somewhere else I want you to know I'll understand. I won't stop loving you, but I'll understand and I won't try to keep you."

Izzy looked down at her plate and was silent. Lilly and Peggy looked at me like I'd grown another head.

"Don't you want us?" Peggy asked.

I smiled at her. "I want you all very much. I hope you'll stay with me forever. But I won't make you stay if you don't want to."

Izzy looked up and took a deep breath. "My boyfriend from college was a bastard. He was controlling and manipulative, domineering and abusive. He hit me and beat me and he raped me. That's why Ike left the hospital and came home... to rescue me from him. The reason I got involved with this guy in the first place was because he reminded me, at first, of my dear, sweet little brother who I'd been madly in love with since he was thirteen. Ike is terrified that he might end up being like that asshole. I know he loves me, and I know he loves you both just as much, and now he's even more worried about becoming possessive and smothering."

Peggy and Lilly jumped up and gather around Izzy, hugging and kissing and holding her tightly.

Lilly looked up, her face against my sister's. "What do you want, Ike?"

"I want a family to love and take care of. To feel loved. And maybe along the way to help other people who need and deserve help. That's all I want."

"That's not so much." Peggy said.

I smiled at them. "It's everything."

I stood up and started clearing the table. "You three take the wine and go watch TV or something. I'll clean up in here. Then I'm going to go for a little walk around the grounds. If I don't get some exercise all this good food is going to make me fat."

The three of them got up, gathered the bottles and their glasses and headed off in the direction of the rec room, sniffling and whispering.

I scrapped the plates and loaded the dishwasher, cleaned off the table and the kitchen counters. Leftovers went into the refrigerator and the rest into the trash. I wondered what a place like this did for trash pickup.

When everything was nice and tidy I went into the pantry and put on the shoulder holster with the twin Glocks, slipped on my squashed tennis shoes, which I'd left by the front door, and stepped outside.

The sun had gone down and the temperature was dropping quickly. I shifted my shoulders, finding a more comfortable position for the shoulder rig to rest, and started walking down the drive.

I kept to the fence line, looking right and left in sweeping movements trying to see everything, keeping my ears open for any unusual sounds. I'd gone about three hundred yards when I spotted movement ahead. I stopped and crouched down slowly, watching.

They moved in three man groups, one held a shotgun, one a semi-auto short barreled rifle and the third carried a pistol, taser and radio.

I watched them overlap with a second group, neither set speaking to the other, just nods of recognition. They moved well, like trained soldiers. Satisfied with what I'd seen I waited till they were out of sight then turned around and headed back towards the house.

I hopped the fence and drifted out away from the drive, just enjoying the night and the sense of peace I got from being in it. In the distance I saw the horses moving towards a tiny stable I hadn't noticed before.

The house came into view so I straightened my path and headed straight for the front door.

I put the Glocks back into the panty, closed it up and went upstairs.

Stepping quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone, I pushed on the bedroom door and looked in.

There on the bed were my three girls, naked as jaybirds, in a little circle. They lay on their sides, each one with her face buried between the thighs of the girl next in line; a sexy little daisy chain. They were moaning and murmuring; hips twisting, hands roaming and caressing, lips and tongues busily engaged and all of them seriously preoccupied. They never even noticed me entering the room.

I looked around and saw that the hot tub had been filled, and at some point had apparently been occupied. The wine glasses and bottles were scattered around the tub, as were their clothes.

I watched them for a couple of minutes, admiring the way they were so tender and loving with each other. I stripped my clothes off and stepped into the tub as quietly as I could and sank down until my shoulders were submerged. I lay back and let the hot water soak the aches from my muscles and bones, and listened to their lovemaking.

When one would get close to cumming, the other two would gang up and double team her, one remaining between her thighs, the other moving up to suck and massage her breasts, kiss her lips and stroke her face. Once she came they resumed their circle until the next girl was ready.