Chapter 15

You must be Cinnamon," I said after admiring the view as long as I thought I could get away with.

The redhead in the center lifted her head and looked at me. "I must, mustn't I," she said with a tilt of her head.

After my talk with Traci I'd gone back to my tent and cuddled with Tami all night. This morning we'd hit on the road early, just a little after eight, driving north into Colorado.

We'd gotten to the mountain town a little after one and had lunch at a Chinese buffet, The Golden Dragon, just off the highway. Then Tami consulted her laptop and drove to a residential section, parked in front of a big house, and turned off the van.

"What's going on?" I asked after a minute.

"We're here," Tami announced with a grin.

I was sitting in the front passenger seat. I looked back at the other girls. From their expressions I think Robbie knew what was going on, but the others were as clueless as me. I looked at the house: 1020 Chaparral Street. Huge front lawn. I guessed, both from the size of the house and the well-kept look of the lawn and shrubs, that they had a gardener on the payroll.

I looked back at Tami. "We can't afford to stay in any more state parks, so we're camping on somebody's lawn?"

Tami's grin got bigger. So did Robbie's. I was thinking about slapping both of them.

"Don't you feel like you're home?" Tami asked.

"Home is about a thousand miles that-a-way," I said, pointing what I hoped was northwest.

"It's your cousin's house."

I looked at Traci in the back seat. We both shrugged. Mom had one sister, Patti, and she didn't have kids. Dad was an only child. I didn't have cousins. Not really. There were some friends of Dad that Traci and I called uncle so we called their kids cousins, but they mostly lived in California.

"Cinnamon," Tami said, looking exasperated.

"Cinnamon?"

Tami looked at me like I was stupid. "The cute red-headed cousin in Boston you wanted to add to your harem."

Cinnamon! She was like an eighth cousin seventeen times removed. "And didn't you kind of miss Boston. It's over there." I pointed vaguely east.

When had I mentioned Cinnamon anyway?

Then I remembered. It was the day three years ago that Tami and I had first made love. Grandma Vickie had just sent me a picture, and I mentioned Cinnamon just to tweak Tami a little. Let's see. The rule is if you share the same grandparent, you're cousins. Great grandparent, second cousins. My Grandma Vickie was Cinnamon's grandmother's little sister. Millicent. I think that was her name. So that would make the redhead my second cousin. And there weren't any marriages in between, so there were no removes.

"You really should try to keep up," Tami told me, speaking slowly to emphasize my limited mental abilities. "Cinnamon moved over a year ago. Your mom told me."

"A new girl for your harem, huh?" Robbie prodded. "I don't know if we can fit her in the van."

"She's like..." I did a quick math. "Like thirteen," I protested.

"Hey!" Kelly yelled. "What's wrong with thirteen?"

"Nothing. They should be seen and not heard."

Kelly and Traci both pouted.

"So what are we doing here?" I asked, turning back to Tami. "And just when did you talk to Mom about Cinnamon? And why?"

"She's on your list. I figured you should meet her."

I stared hard, and after a few seconds Tami fidgeted. "This spring at a baseball game. Your mom and I were sitting together. I was saying that neither of us had very big families. She said something about having a whole side of the family that your family didn't keep track of, and I mentioned that you'd told me about a cute cousin Cinnamon in Boston, and she said that Cinnamon had moved to Colorado. Then, when I was planning this trip, I asked her for the address, and she got it from your grandmother."

I decided that letting my mother and my girlfriend get together unsupervised was dangerous. I thought about protesting that she wasn't on my list, that my list was already overflowing, but I knew it wouldn't do any good. "What do you want me to do? Walk up to a perfect stranger and say, 'Hi, I'm your cousin Tony'?"

"Why not?"

I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again. Why not? Grandma Vickie hadn't talked to her sister Millicent or most of the rest of her family in over fifty years, not since Vickie married Grandpa Doug. It seems the family hadn't approved of a Marine Captain just back from Korea. I knew Grams sometimes wrote to a few of Millicent's children. She had like a dozen. That was probably how she got the girl's picture and address. Maybe I could heal a family rift.

"Why not?" I opened the door and marched up the walk before I could change my mind.

I rang the bell and waited. The girls all got out of the van and followed, making a semi-circle around me.

The door opened, and a pretty Hispanic woman looked out. I suddenly hoped that Tami had gotten the right house, since I sure as hell didn't know where cousin Cinnamon lived, and I was pretty sure this wasn't her.

"Uh, hi. I was looking for Cinnamon." I realized that I didn't even know Cinnamon's parents' names, or even Cinnamon's last name. If Grandma Vickie had told me, I sure didn't remember.

"Yes?" The woman was sizing me up. At least she didn't say no Cinnamon lived here. I guessed she wondered what somebody my age, and surrounded by girls, was doing looking for a thirteen-year-old.

It didn't occur to me until that moment that since I was meeting relatives I knew nothing about, I might have gotten the girls to dress a little more conservatively. Traci was dressed the most modestly. She was wearing a sports bra and a pair of bike shorts that had been painted on. The other girls were wearing bikini tops and very, very small shorts or cut-offs. At least they'd thrown on shirts when we had lunch.

"I'm..." I turned and pointed at Traci. "We're her cousins from Washington. We were passing through and thought we'd say hi."

The woman's face brightened and she smiled. I had a feeling that she did that a lot. "Oh, that's wonderful! Dr. Brees is at the hospital, but Cinnamon's at the gazebo in the back yard with her friends." She pointed toward the end of the house. "You can go around that way. The gate is unlocked."

"Thanks," I said, nodding, and turned toward the direction she'd pointed. I guessed that Dr. Breeze was Cinnamon's dad. I wondered why the maid—I guessed she was the maid—hadn't mentioned her mom. Maybe mom was out of town. She must have thought I knew that. I wasn't going to tell her that I hadn't even known we were stopping.

I walked around the house, the girls following a few steps behind. The fence was cedar, about a foot taller than me, which made it seven feet tall since I'd finally gotten to six feet without having to cheat anymore. I opened the gate and ushered the girls through, then closed it behind us. We walked on around, the girls falling in behind me again.

The back yard was great. They definitely had a gardener. The first thing I noticed were the rock gardens with a fountain in each. No, the first thing I noticed was the huge redwood gazebo. It must have been ten yards wide. Well, maybe twenty feet. Actually I don't know what I noticed first. There was a large patio just behind the house with the biggest barbeque I'd ever seen. There were flowers everywhere, with large strips around the patio and gazebo and baskets hanging from the eaves of the gazebo.

I really liked the rock wall that ran next to the gazebo, complete with a waterfall into a pond. There was something swimming in there, but I couldn't tell from a distance whether it was goldfish, koi, or something else. If it was my house, it'd be trout. Then I could just pull one out and toss it on the barby. After Traci gutted and cleaned it, of course.

They even had a badminton net set up between one of the rock gardens and the gazebo. For a ritzy place like this, I would have expected something more high-tone, like croquet. The whole thing was surrounded by trees with a mini-forest at the back.

But the best scenery was right next to the gazebo. Three girls lying face down on loungers.

I decided that my 'Thirteen-year-olds should be seen and not heard' was a universal law because these girls were decorative. At least, I guessed that Cinnamon's friends were also newly-minted-teenagers.

A blond, a brunette, and a redhead. What more could you ask for in life? A dog rolled lazily on it's back between the brunette and the redhead. At least I think it was a dog. It seemed to be all legs. The dog rolled onto it's belly and looked at me. It quivered but didn't bark.

The blond's hair was in a ponytail and draped across her neck. She wore what I would call a typical girl's bikini. The other two wore string bikinis more in line with what my girls were wearing. They didn't leave a lot to the imagination, and from my vantage point I could see a lot of butt crack on both of them. The redhead seemed to have a lot of hair, but it was all piled on the back of her head. I guessed it was as long as Robbie's used to be, maybe longer.

"You must be Cinnamon," I said after admiring the view as long as I thought I could get away with.

The redhead in the center lifted her head and looked at me. "I must, mustn't I," she said with a slight tilt of her head to her right. Her eyes narrowed, and she stared unblinking at me, though I had a feeling she was taking in the group behind me as well. The intense way she looked at me, I felt I knew what it was like to be studied under a microscope. At least she hadn't dissected me first. Maybe that comes later.

"I'm Tony Sims."

The brunette sat up. "Hey! Can we keep him?" Her top had been untied in the back, and as it flapped, I got a hint of a very small tit.

Cinnamon sat up, too, and looked at each of the girls with me. "I think we'd have to get in line." Her top was untied but didn't flop open, which was a shame cause the girl had a major set of tits. I glanced back at Darlene, who had the biggest set in our group, and decided that I'd need more examination to make a call who was biggest.

"I'm your cousin," I explained looking back at her. I had to remind myself to look at her face.

"My cousin?" Cinnamon sounded slightly skeptical as she reached casually behind her back and tied her top. The blond stood up and tied the brunette's top. I wasn't sure I liked blondie, even if she was major-cute.

"Second cousin, actually. Your grandmother Millicent was my grandmother Vickie's—Victoria's—big sister."

"Grandmother Millie." Cinnamon processed that. And I mean, processed. Her face reminded me of the computers in those old-time sci-fi flicks, where the grid of lights blinks a few times then the answer pops out. "Aunt Victoria." It probably only took a second or two, but it seemed to go on for a long time. I wondered if there was a black hole in the neighborhood, it's event horizon distorting time.

"Cousin Tony!" she squealed, and all of a sudden I had an armful of teenaged girl. And a mouthful of one, too, as her tongue went exploring. I wondered if Miss Manners ever explained the proper etiquette for dealing with a wayward tongue?

I hadn't realized how small the girl was until she leaped at me. As I held her, her feet were at least six inches off the ground and probably more like ten. I didn't stop to look. The dog had jumped to its feet as the redhead lunged at me. It was a greyhound, a full-sized one, not a whippet or an Italian.

"She's related all right," I heard Robbie say from behind me.

The kiss lasted several seconds, then ended as abruptly as it began.

Cinnamon looked at me, and I could have sworn she was still processing. Then I noticed that her eyes flicked to each of us and back again. The greyhound came forward, and I slowly extended my hand, palm out, so he could sniff. I must have passed the test, 'cause he licked it, then went to check out the girls.

"Then this would be your Cousin Hailey," she said, pointing at the brunette without taking her eyes off mine.

"Cousin Hailey?" Now it was my turn to be confused. Well, more confused. Gran hadn't mentioned her.

"Yeah, her dad is my Uncle Gerry. Cousin Gerry to you."

"Cousin Tony!" the brunette squealed, and suddenly I had an armful of teenager again. I definitely wanted some advice from Miss Manners, 'cause now I had a tongue and a wandering hand to contend with. Though Big Tony didn't see the problem as she gave him a few rhythmic squeezes.

When Hailey let go and stepped back I waved generally toward my back row. "That's Traci," I said, pointing at Mikee in a bit of a daze. "She's my sister, so she's your cousin too, if you want to claim her. I usually don't."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Robbie grin and step behind Mikee. She held her hand over Mikee's head, pointing down, and shook her own head several times. Then she stepped behind Traci, pointed down, and nodded vigorously.

Cinnamon slapped my arm with a backhand that I didn't see coming. It felt like the fastball I'd taken in the shoulder during playoffs. The damn pitcher from Olympia hit me in the same spot twice during the game.

"Hold it, buster! Have you ever stopped to consider just how lucky you are to have a sister?" Her eyes jumped from mine to each girl's behind me and back up to mine. "Lots of people don't have siblings and would give up an arm to have one." Her eyes did that thing again. "Okay, maybe she's sometimes an annoyance, but have you thought about how empty your life would be if it were just you?" She thrust out an arm and extended two fingers to point at Mikee and Kelly. "Those two are sisters. Ask them how they would feel if they didn't have each other."

How the hell did she know that Mikee and Kelly were sisters? They didn't look alike.

Hailey frowned and nodded. " Yeah, pickledick."

Pickledick?

Hailey leaped forward and grabbed Traci in a hug that lifted my sister completely off the ground, though Traci was a little bigger. She kissed Trace on the cheek, then gave her a quick one on the mouth before setting my startled sister back down on the ground. Before Trace could recover, Cinnamon was also hugging her, though her head blocked me from seeing if Traci got another kiss, too.

Cinnamon turned back to me and pointed index fingers at the blonde and Hailey. "The three of us didn't have brothers or sisters, so we had to adopt each other just so we could know what it's like." She looked over her shoulder at the blonde and held open an arm. "Could you come here, please, Sis?"

Cinnamon curled an arm around the smiling blonde, did the eye thing again, and glared at me. "I was lucky. I was able to adopt the best sister I could ever find. Maybe you recognize her face from the television news a couple of years back? This, as far as you are concerned, is also your cousin, Wynter King."

"I, uh..." I stammered. How the hell could a little slip of a thirteen-year-old put me on the defensive like that? And what television news?

"The mine thing," Robbie said behind me.

'What mine thing?' I thought as the blond, Wynter, smiled wider and nodded.

"You and some boy were trapped. I remember your name, 'cause I thought what a great name it was. I got stuck with Roberta."

"I think Roberta's a nice name," the brunette said. "I so like it better than Whitney Gwyneth."

Who was Whitney Gwyneth? I couldn't make sense of that. I was still getting used to the blonde being Wynter King. Winter King was a novel. Something about Arthur, though I couldn't remember who wrote it.

A sudden flash of insight warned me that I should save my new cousin's life. "Anybody who values their health calls her Robbie," I offered.

"You're afraid of a girl?" Hailey asked with just a trace of a sneer.

"This one I am," I said. "She's the meanest football player in the state. Washington state, that is. They call her Monster Girl. Also that one." I pointed at Tami. "And that one." I pointed at Traci. "That one bites," I said, indicating Kelly. I considered adding Cousin Cinnamon to my list.

Wynter's eyes went wide. "You play football?" I'd seen other girls stare openmouthed at Robbie before, but on her it looked good.

"She's the reason we were second in state last year. We're not sure the NCAA will let her play when she gets to college. She might hurt too many of the boys."

Cinnamon smiled. I think she liked the idea.

"Wynter's a Future MD," Hailey added.

"She's known she was going to be a doctor since forever," Cinnamon explained. The dog finished inspecting the troops and lay down next to Cinnamon's feet.

"Hi, Cousin Tony," Wynter said. I didn't get a kiss, but the hug was nice. "Hi, Cousin Traci." Mental note: find time to wonder why Traci got a bigger hug than I did.

"She's, like, going to discover cures for cancer, AIDS, and phillitosis," Hailey put in.

"Phillitosis?" Tami asked.

"It's, like, a disease they haven't even invented yet, and Wynter's gonna cure it. She'll discover it in some guy named Phil and name it for him."

Wynter rolled her eyes to Tami. "Aren't you sorry you encouraged her?"

Tami grinned and returned a small shoulder shrug.

I shrugged and pointed to Robbie. "Robbie's the future first female commander of the Eighty-Second Airborne."

Robbie grinned and waved at the new girls, then looked at me. "Eighty-Second Airborne? I was thinking more of the First Cavalry Division."

I held my hands out in front of me in a balance. "Fort Bragg, Fort Hood."

Robbie looked confused. I kept balancing my hands. "Falling through the air over North Carolina, or riding around in a tin can during the summer in Texas."

Robbie made a fist and shook it at me. "Airborne!"

"Is this pickledick, like, your boyfriend?" Hailey asked.

Robbie grinned. "Only on alternate Mondays. Darlene has him every other Tuesday. Mikee gets him on alternate Wednesdays and Kelly on alternate Thursdays." Robbie looked straight at me. "Traci has dibs on Sundays." Robbie indicated each girl with a hand on the shoulder as she said her name. Then she looked straight at me.

I decided that the Eighty-Second had just lost a brilliant commander, 'cause Robbie wasn't going to live long enough to finish high school, let alone start Officer's Candidate School.

"Who get's him on Fridays?" Wynter asked, looking suddenly serious, then puzzled. She suddenly blushed, seeming to be embarrassed by her own question.

"Tami gets him on Fridays and all the rest of the time," Robbie explained. "She lets him have his harem so she can get some well-deserved rest."

I felt like a piece of meat. The way Hailey stared at me like a hungry wolf didn't help the feeling.

Wynter grinned, shook her head, and sat back down on her lounger. "Sis, why don't you invite Cousin Traci and the others to sit down in the gazebo? Either that or offer them some SPF-45 lotion. You can decide what to do about Cousin Bozo." She picked up a tablet and pencil, grinned suddenly, and left the rest of the family to its own business.

Bozo?

"Forty-five? You have something against the sun?" Mikee exclaimed.

Wynter looked up from her tablet and indicated the surrounding area with a sweep of her pencil eraser. "In the lower elevations, SPF-15 is adequate. Here in the mountains, thirty is the recommended minimum. You have nice skin. I thought you'd want to protect it with more than the minimum, especially since ultraviolet wavelengths can cause carcinoma of the skin, especially cutaneous melanoma, which can metastasize rapidly throughout the body using the lymph system as its conduit. Although the melanoma is unlikely to appear until you are well into your adult years, thickening and wrinkling of the dermal layer could have you looking thirty by the time you are twenty. Dermal abrasions or chemical peels to remove the wrinkles in an attempt to regain the lost youthful appearance is both expensive and painful. And anyone who has something as deadly as Botox injected into herself needs serious psychiatric counseling." Wynter smiled, then looked back at her pad. I had no trouble picturing Wynter standing in a classroom lecturing a group of future dermatologists.

Hailey grinned at the stunned look on Mikee's face. "Did I mention that she sometimes, like, makes rounds with Doctor Taylor at the hospital?"

I wondered who led.

Cinnamon winked at me, and then her smile erupted. "Come on. You can join us, too. I wouldn't want your harem to get lonely, and you need adult supervision, anyway."

Hailey placed one hand on a cocked hip, hooking her thumb under the string that held her postage stamp in place, and gave me the hungry wolf scan again. "Hey, you can leave him out here, and I'll so supervise him."

"Later," Cinnamon said, taking my hand and pulling me aside so that the others could enter first. The dog followed us up, his toenails clicking on the wooden floor. He sat between Traci and Kelly, who took turns scratching behind his ears.

"I forgot to introduce Ghost," Cinnamon said suddenly. "Ladies and gentle-sir, this is Colonel John Singleton Mosby."

"The Gray Ghost," Robbie said, making the connection a half-second ahead of me.

Cinnamon nodded, pleased. "I'd expect someone from eastern Tennessee to recognize the name."

Now how the hell did she know that? I saw Cinnamon smiling and looking at me in her curious way, but I sure as hell wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of asking.

We spent a few minutes on begots. For Traci and me, it was easy. Vickie married Doug and begot Mom and Patti. Mom begot me, then the squirt.

For Cinnamon and Hailey, it took longer. It seems Grandma Millicent—Millie—was a busy little bee. There was Grenville in forty-seven all the way through FitzGerald, Hailey's dad, in sixty-nine. Eleven kids. Cinnamon's mom, Gwendolyn—I think she started to call her The Bitch, so they must have had a fight—married her dad, Mitchell the doctor, and that begot Cinnamon.

"Daddy will want to meet you," Cinnamon announced. "He says families lose track of each other too easily." She giggled and looked at Hailey. "Especially mine."

I had a feeling that there were things left unsaid but ignored it. Probably something like Grandma Vickie's being disowned. "I don't know how long we'll be here."

"You don't know?"

I hooked my thumb at Tami, "She hasn't told me yet."

Cinnamon grinned at Tami. "I like you. We're going to be good friends. If you want to stay until the thirteenth, you can come to my fourteenth birthday party. We can fix all of you up with some pretty good studs. No doubt you'd find them a welcome change."