Chapter 7

The next morning started off in a tangle. Seems both of the girls were restless sleepers and liked to move around in their beds quite a bit. It couldn't have been that bad though because it didn't disturb my sleep during the night. I am a sound sleeper, though, and for that I was thankful. As I said, both girls were tangled up in the center of the bed, lying with arms and legs stretched over the top of me. As I've gotten older my metabolism has changed and I don't usually wake with what I used to call a 'piss hard-on.' This morning was no exception and even the proximity of their lithe nude bodies did not immediately make me hard.

I lay there thinking of the responsibility I had taken on for their lives, their education and their other needs. It was all a bit overwhelming. My life had been empty. I had never married or had kids or even wanted kids. Yet my mind was content to see both of the girls laying there knowing that I could help them overcome the hurt and shame of their past. I knew I could make their lives better, richer and much happier than before.

As I thought about all of that Suzie began to stir. I noticed that she woke with the neutral facial expressions we all sleep with and that she seemed a bit disoriented at first. She didn't notice me being awake and I have to admit I was curious as to how she would react on this first new day in her new home so I pretended to be asleep. She rose up and looked around. She looked at Natty and me, still entangled, and it was like everything came back to her. I could tell she was pleased because she got this big smile across her face and laid back down on the bed and put her arm across my chest and snuggled in as close to my body as she could get. I couldn't help wrapping my arm around her and giving her a kiss on the side of her head.

"Good morning precious. Did you sleep well?"

Suzie didn't say anything; she just nodded her head. She was comfortable and not in a sexually playful mood and just lay there snuggling with me. About the time I almost drifted off to sleep again Natty awoke. She went through the same process and I heard her softly whisper, "It wasn't a dream."

I almost started crying thinking that I could be someone who could make these young girls' dreams come true. As she looked at Suzie and I snuggled together she took my arm and wrapped it around her waist as she snuggled up on my other side.

As soon as she snuggled in I kissed her on the side of her head as I had Suzie. Knowing that I was awake, Natty rose up, kissed my cheek and then kissed my lips. Looking into my eyes with her lips still touching mine she said, "I love you Jeff."

My face cracked into a big smile and I kissed her nose.

"Sweetheart, I love you too and that was a most wonderful good morning kiss."

Our talking roused Suzie again and we cuddled together comfortably. After a few minutes I asked them what they wanted for breakfast. As we moved from the bed we were each wide awake. I showed them where the guest toothbrush was and said they would have to share it or use mine for this morning. We took individual showers even though both girls opened the shower door while I was in the shower and offered to come in and wash me. I gently explained to each of them that if we did that we wouldn't get out of the house before noon.

Having offered breakfast I realized that there was no milk for cereal and that we would be better off eating out. So we quickly dressed and left the house. I promised that we would find time to go grocery shopping, and that I would fix them a large breakfast tomorrow.

I proposed that we go into the nearby city and eat at the food court in the mall. I usually bought my clothes at the large department store in the mall and knew that they had twice as many women's clothes as men's clothes. I told them if we couldn't find what they wanted there then there was a whole mall full of stores and surely one or more of those specialty shops would have something for beautiful young women to wear.

They sat there thinking about what I said and then Natty turned to me.

"You mean we are going to get to pick out our own clothes? By ourselves?" She asked incredulously.

I laughed and said that I didn't know much about young women's clothes and sure hoped that they were going to pick things out. I told them that there were sales people in the store that would help, but they knew more about what they wanted than anyone else. "You know what you like and what looks good on you. You know what is popular with your friends in school. You also know what the dress code is for school. That doesn't mean everything you buy will be for school, but you have to think about whether you will want to wear what you buy to school."

Suzie spoke up from the back seat asking about how much money she could spend. I told her not to worry about money just to enjoy getting some nice things.

Natty said, "Jeff, all I can think of is my mom telling me how expensive things are and to be careful, because money is hard to come by."

We talked some more and I think I convinced them not to even look at price tags this one time. I told them that I wasn't rich but that I realized we were starting from scratch with their wardrobe and that it would cost a good deal of money. I truthfully told them that it really made me very happy to spend money on them.

We stopped at the food court for breakfast as I don't believe in shopping on an empty stomach and I didn't want to waste time at a regular restaurant, because I knew from my ex-girlfriends that shopping with women requires a lot of time.

Our shopping was an experience that I would not soon forget. Although I had told Natty and Suzie that I wanted them to buy clothes that they liked and clothes that would fit in at school and with their friends they turned to me for my approval on almost every item.

Most young women would be embarrassed to be seen shopping with an older man, but not these two. They would take several items into the dressing room and come out modeling them, wanting to know what I thought. I tried to remain noncommittal until I found out the items I was indifferent on, got tossed aside.

We were lucky to find a beautiful young sales clerk who was very attentive. She was probably 18 or 19, and frankly, a week ago I would have been falling all over myself trying to get her to go out with me. She was small, about 5' 6", had red hair and the most captivating green eyes. She was put together well, well proportioned with 'C' cup breasts high on her chest. Her smile was so infectious, it seemed to light up the room. She was very friendly and perky. I looked at her name tag; her name was Katy.

Some women can pull off being perky, while other women with this quality are just annoying. Katy was not annoying at all. Both girls took to her right off and she followed us throughout the store and was enormously helpful.

The only problem came when I found Natty studying my face as I was conversing with Katy about accessories for an outfit Suzie had picked out. Natty didn't say anything at that moment but the first time we were alone she said, "You really like her don't you?"

I thought about what to say and finally said, "Yes, I think she is rather nice, don't you?"

Natty looked at me with a look of exasperation, looked back over at Katy, nodded her head and said, "Yeah, she is."

Katy and both girls agreed on most items. I found that both Natty and Suzie had exceptional taste, especially for girls that had worn hand-me-downs all of their lives. Both wanted to immediately change into the cute summer dresses that Katy found for them so I paid for those items right away. The stylish new clothes somehow seemed to infuse the girls with confidence. The transformation was remarkable; it was almost as if they were two different young women. With Katy's helpful suggestions, I bought them the works, because they literally needed everything. I bought new blouses, shorts, jeans, skirts, shoes, socks, dresses and then we got to the lingerie department.

I knew they needed bras and panties and I was a bit worried that they might try to come out model what they chose. I wouldn't have minded but the store was full of other shoppers. I gave Katy my charge card and tried to make myself scarce while they made their selections. I told Katy to please make sure each had at least five or six bras and twice as many panties. I know I blushed when I reminded her to ensure both got the right cup size and the proper fit. I watched from a distance as Katy went up to Natty and Suzie and obviously told them what I had said. It was obvious, because after they talked they all looked over at me and laughed.

This shopping trip took most of the morning and by 11:30 I had spent well over $3,000. I had also felt bad because I had tied up Katy for the entire morning. Several times during the morning I noticed Natty and Katy with their heads together talking and then looking at me.

I asked Katy if she would be available to help them in the afternoon and she explained that she was off at noon for the rest of the day.

Natty grabbed my arm, pulled me over close to her and said, "Ask her to lunch."

I moved over to Katy, who was still bagging our purchases, and said, "You have been so kind to us, I wonder if I could impose on you to have lunch with us."

Katy looked over at Natty, winked and said, "I would be delighted."

As the girls were well dressed after their shopping expedition and Katy looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine, I decided to take them to someplace nicer than McDonalds. We left Katy's car at the mall. I settled on a nice seafood restaurant overlooking the small bay. We got there at peak lunch time and I thought I had made a mistake in my selection when the maitre de offered me a table on the outside deck with an excellent view.

As I watched the other male patron's reaction to the three young women that I was escorting, I understood why we were given such an excellent table. It was almost funny to watch the men as they caught sight of first Natty, then Katy and then Suzie as we moved to our tables. It was almost as if the heads would swivel to the point where Natty moved out of sight and then drop back to Suzie and then drop back to Katy and almost do a double take. I know that I was the envy of every gentleman in the place. More than one of those men ended up with a dirty look from his wife or girl friend.

Suzie's eyes bugged out at the menu. I wasn't sure if it was because of the exotic fare or the prices. Katy took things in stride but seemed to enjoy watching Suzie's reactions. From some comments she had made earlier I was sure that Katy was wondering about our relationships. I was hoping that she would think I was a rich uncle or something and leave it at that. As we were eating our appetizers, Katy finally asked the question that I didn't want to have to answer.

"Jeff, what exactly is your relationship to Natty and Suzie."

I felt like a bomb was ticking under the table as I fished for words that wouldn't be too much of a lie for her to swallow. Finally, I was shocked to hear Natty say, "He's our guardian." I didn't even know Natty knew what a guardian was.

Katy looked at me and replied, "That's interesting because from the way Natty talked about you, and the way both Natty and Suzie were so obviously trying to buy clothes that pleased you, I thought you might have been Natty's lover."

Suzie immediately popped off with, "Why Natty and not me?"

Katy laughed and turned to Suzie and said, "Sweetie, you're just a little girl."