Chapter 11

Friday, July 2, 1999

My mind was getting back to East coast time as I woke at seven. The girls were each lying against me with a head on a shoulder. Sue had a firm grip on my morning ego, while a small hand was cupping my balls. My mind began to work as it did this time of day.

"How lucky can a guy be? Sue is so loving. She's going to be a mom. I'm going to be a dad. She's brought this strange, loving, creature into our home and heart. I don't need another woman around. Maybe Sue does. But Mercy is a love. She's so cute one second, then beautiful the next. She's not built like Sue, but who is. It's probably a good thing. I don't know what I would do with so much to play with."

"It's hard to believe we just took her with us. She willingly traveled over twenty-five hundred miles to be with us, to live with us. She really doesn't know us. But she does, that's the crazy part. What is she, what will she be to us. Sue seems to have a plan, so I guess I'm just along for the ride."

"I didn't think I wanted to come back to work last week, but now I'm ready. We'll have a weekend to get in a groove before we'll be back to work. I wonder what Mercy would like to do. There are so many jobs for her at either my shop or with Sue. Mercy is so feminine that she would probably be good to work with Sue. That would balance Hanna's masculine demeanor a little."

"Everyone's going to love Mercy. She is so sweet, so very beautiful that she sometimes looks like a big doll. I like to take her clothes off, while the girls like to put clothes on her. Sue sure likes to dress and undress her."

"Sue has been very gentle with Mercy. She's been extremely loving toward her, almost like Sue feels that Mercy belongs to her, and she wants to hold her close so she won't get away. I guess I feel that way too. But I'm so in love with Sue that I'm surprised Mercy has such a big place in my heart."

A tiny hand that had been cupping by balls turned my face so her lips could consume mine. Mercy kissed and kissed me as tears dripped onto my face. "You are so sweet to think of me so lovingly. I'm so in love with you and with Sue. You really are concerned for me and what I think. Don't worry Steve, I'm yours and I'm Sue's."

Sue pulled herself up to me and kissed me too. "Mercy, we are so lucky to have a man that can love us so much. From the first time I saw him out the window of my home, I wanted him. I think I knew we were going to be partners right then, but it took a while."

Our kissing and fondling caused a delay in getting up. By the time the two girls were satisfied with my performance, my bladder was bursting. While I used the bathroom the two of them loved each other some more. It wasn't lust or just raw passion, it was simply two people loving each other. Beautiful!

We finally got up packed and loaded the car. On the way back to the mainland we had breakfast at IHOP, Pancakes, French toast, and all the sticky syrup. The girls were like little kids, sampling all of the different flavors of syrups.

After turning in the car, we went out to the airplane with our bags now a little more stuffed since the girls had been shopping. It was so strange to look at how much room was inside the plane. I had to finally ask. "Sue, why do you want or need a plane that can carry eight or nine people? Why so big?"

"If Mom and Ben want to go with us then we have the room for them and you know Mom, she's brings most of her clothes closet with her when she travels. Then if we were to go to the islands, we would probably want to take some of our friends with us. This thing will do it. It's not as fast as a twin, but a hundred sixty to seventy isn't bad. A lot faster that the 172."

I had to agree, but this thing was like a junior airliner. We were in the air by nine, and on approach by a little after ten. We would have been earlier, but we wandered over the coast a little looking at the sights. The runway was nicely marked and very smooth blacktop. Sue did her near three point landing so gently you didn't even know you were down until she cut the power as we rolled out. We taxied up to the administration or operations building and shut down.

I went inside to introduce myself and to find out where they wanted the plane. They said they had full valet service so an attendant would take the plane, refuel it, and put it in the hangar. I asked them to call a taxi for us but the girl said, "You live just down the road, right? Your wife told me you live in the same park I do. I'll get someone to watch the desk and I'll run you down there. It'll only take a minute. My name is Diane, glad to meet you, Steve."

We pulled our luggage from the plane, checked to make sure we were leaving the plane clean, and loaded our stuff into the trunk of a Ford Taurus. When we pulled up to our drive the counter girl exclaimed, "You guys live in the house where all the people come. Wow, you guys have parties all the time. I see you out here for breakfast sometimes too."

Sue said, "Diane, we're having a welcome home party tonight. Please come by for some food and drink. You can meet all of our friends and if you want, you and your husband can join all of us for breakfast or in the evening for a drink after work."

"My husband will go nuts. He's always saying that you guys have the neatest place he's ever seen. I can't wait to call him. We will be there tonight, thanks."

As soon as we got out of the car, Glenda came around the house from the patio. Sue and Glenda hugged before she and I hugged. As soon as Sue introduced her to Mercy, Glenda hugged her too. Mercy was smiling with happiness at her welcome. We went through the front door instead of the patio because it was closer.

Hanna came running down the hall to hug Sue and me. Sue introduced Mercy to her and Hanna hugged her too, welcoming her to our big family. Hanna said the rest of the office staff was at the plant working on setting up a new garment they had just designed.

I took the bags back to the bedroom and came back out. Glenda said I should look at what the contractor was doing to the patio. I walked out to see two men on ladders with power screwdrivers, attaching large vent covers. I walked outside, to encounter more men putting up a big tent while more unloaded portable air conditioners, tables, and chairs. I looked up on the patio roof to see heavy metal vents and two large air units. That wasn't very pretty. There were bunches of hoses and electrical lines channeled down the back of the patio going to the compressors that were on the other side of the storage building. There were covers to put over the wiring and hoses, so I knew that part would look good. I asked one of the workers where the contractor was and he said he had gone to the lumber yard and would be back in a few minutes.

When I came back onto the patio, Mercy was looking at everything with big eyes. "You really do go all out. Do you fill this table up with people often?"

"Actually, Mercy, the table is too small now. We have to get another extension. It only holds twenty and we're more than that now."

"Wow, you fix supper for twenty people every night?"

"Most nights, but we don't fix supper. We take turns. So a family or two families or more get together and make supper for everyone. That way we spread the work out and we all get to taste someone else's good food."

"That's so neat. What's breakfast like?"

I sat in one of the comfortable lawn chairs with a cup of coffee and explained, "I get up early, so I start coffee and come out with a cup and turn the light on. That's a signal for anyone who is up to come over for coffee. One of our friends, a man that works with me, brings breakfast sandwiches and we often get donuts or pastry for a treat. I see we have a new huge coffee maker, so I guess that will help take care of making coffee. I wonder if it is big enough; sometimes there's a big group in the morning."

Mercy seemed excited, "I can't wait for breakfast to see all those sleepy people come alive, to wake up with friends in the morning. I'll bet that makes their day go well."

The back door slammed and Mandy came through. We hugged, and when I introduced her to Mercy, she hugged and kissed her, telling her how lucky she was to be a part of Sue and me. I asked what she was doing off so early. She said that both Sandy and she had doctor's appointments today so they took off a half day. When I asked if anything was wrong she said, "No, everything's great. We both had an IUD put in and a prescription for the pill so we won't be moms before we want to. Our guys don't want to use condoms when they need to, so we're going to take care of the problem. It's either that or get them snipped."

"Um, Mandy, you two weren't very careful with me, I thought you were on the pill before?"

"Oh, we were on the pill, but both of us forget all the time. Sue reminded us everyday when we were hanging around with you guys. Since she hasn't been around to remind us, we probably almost got caught. Now we won't screw up."

"Where's Sandy?"

"She went back to work. She wanted to finish a customer's rebuild and only had a couple of hours to do. We've been getting a lot of track-trashed motors to rebuild. Most are rebuildable, so the customer saves a little money, but there is a lot less warranty."

She looked around and asked, "You going to cool us off out here? That's going to be great so we can have our evenings together through the summer. Supper was beginning to be too hot to eat, even with the fans."

The Taylor rental guys were done, so I went out and tipped them for their fast work. They said they would come out Monday and take the tent down and pick up the tables and chairs.

The contractor was backing his pickup into the yard. When he got out, he came onto the patio, shook my hand, and went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water. "I didn't like the way all that equipment looked on the top of your patio roof, so I went to get some material to make a frame and some colored aluminum panels that will hide it. Sort of like a fence up there. I think you'll like it. Wonder why the air isn't on yet, I'll check."

As soon as he left, a guy came in with a funny looking thermostat. He mounted it next to the fan and light panel then motioned me over. He showed me that there was a timed setting for so many minutes at a time and a setting for a begin time and end time. I could do either. There was also a manual on and off. I set the timed setting for an hour and turned it on. In a minute ice cold air came from the vents. Wow, this was going to freeze some folks out.

The contractor came back into the patio, turned the temperature setting down then turned on the overhead fans so there was a gentle cool breeze throughout the patio. "That should do it. The temperature setting is different from regular air conditioners. It's for the amount of cooling that will be done to the inducted air. I'm not sure how it will be when it rains, but just adjust it to the weather. This thing can spit out ice cubes if you turn it all the way down."

Glenda came out of the house with a cup of coffee and sat in a lawn chair. "This feels so nice. Thank you for the air. Now I have a place to enjoy the outside and still be cool. You'll have to start up those air units under the tent about four so it's cool under there. We're going to have food on this table and more under the tent. If everyone comes that Ruth says will come, it's going to be crowded. I ordered four porta potties to be put by the storage shed. That will help with the bathroom traffic. That's something you may have to address one of these days with the large group we have now."

Samantha came in the door. She came up and hugged me, then, when I introduced her to Mercy, she blushed a really bright red and hugged her. She said she wanted to see Sue and went into the house to find her. Mercy had a shit eating grin on her face. She just looked at me and said, "Tell you later."

Glenda asked if I was hungry. "You know me Glenda, I'm always hungry."

Glenda said she had a big pot of soup warming and a stack of sandwiches. Mercy went with her to bring paper plates and bowls out to eat. Glenda brought the big pot out and ladled soup out to a long line of bowls. Mercy was confused as there were not that many people there right then.

As Sue, Samantha, and Hanna came out of the house, Betty and Joan parked in the yard. As soon as Sue introduced Mercy to them, they both hugged her, welcoming her. They all remarked about the air conditioner. Glenda brought the contractor in to eat with us, but couldn't convince his workers to come in. I looked out toward the street to see Charlie coming across the street on crutches. He came through the door saying, "I knew it was lunch time, my stomach told me. Hey Steve, you're back and who's this delectable little creature. My, oh my."

"You leave her alone, Charlie," Sue warned. "This is Mercy, she has come to join us, perhaps permanently."

"You sure can collect them, Sue. Mercy, don't let me scare you off. When you meet my crazed wife, you'll understand why I'm a nut case."

Charlie turned back to me and said, "I saw Jim come get your FLH yesterday and bring it back with an appendage. You know about that?"

"Sure do, Charlie," I said pointing at Mercy. "I needed to create a little room, if you know what I mean."

"Ah," he said, before stuffing a sandwich in his mouth.

Martin came in and kissed Glenda and gave Sue a hug before shaking my hand. "Sure glad to see you two. It's been lonely without you. Say, the cool air is nice, how about that?"

Martin was introduced to Mercy as he sat next to Glenda where a bowl of soup was waiting for him.

Mercy couldn't take it anymore. "My goodness, there are ten of us and this is an impromptu lunch. What must a real party be like?"

Charlie smiled and said, "You ain't seen nothin' yet. Wait till our friend Hap and his crew show up. Hap and Bear have been going crazy that Steve's been out of town, just knowing Steve was getting into some kind of trouble. I'll bet that if I called him right now to tell him Steve was home, he'd be here in under fifteen minutes."

Before I could caution her, Mercy said, "I want to see that. Who is this Hap guy anyway?"

"Uh, Uh, Hap is uh, a friend of Stevie and mine. He's a little different and some of his friends are a little rough around the edges. Let me call, you time it."

Charlie used the cordless phone on the table and only said a few words and hung up. He was grinning when he set the phone down. He went back to eating.

Sue had gotten Mercy a Diet Coke and a Coke for me, showing Mercy where the bar refrigerator was and that there was usually more in the fridge in the house.

About the time I was finishing my sandwich, I heard the roar. Charlie started laughing and asked, "How much time has passed?"

Mercy looked at her watch and said, "About seven minutes."

Close to twenty bikes slid to a stop outside the porch. I went outside as Hap and Bear got off their bikes. Hap gave me a hug then Bear actually picked me up while hugging me. Hap's lady gave me a kiss on the cheek saying she was glad I was back so Hap would quit worrying. Several of the two clubs' members that I knew came up to shake my hand, saying welcome back.

Sue came out of the house and Hap and Bear, as well as Hap's lady, treated her the same. Mercy had followed Sue out, so Sue introduced Hap and Bear to her. Hap gave her a hug and said, "You look like just the thing to help Steve on a cold winter night while Sue is cuddling her new baby."

Mercy was blushing a little, but she was beginning to understand my friends. I invited the bunch to enjoy a beer with us, but Hap said that the clubhouse was full as they had a visiting club and were expected back right away. He said if we had an opportunity, we should come by over the weekend as it was going to be a non-stop party. He said I might need some property vests to keep guys away from Sue and Mercy, but he would try to control the animals.

Bear shook my hand again, then hollered, "Mount up." Twenty bikes roared to life as Hap yelled out, "Nice to see you, Crip." This was spoken at Charlie who was waving. Just as fast as they came, they were gone.

When we went back inside, I could feel the huge difference in temperature.

Mercy was sitting next to me and asked, "What would you have done if they had stayed?"

"Gave them beer, fixed more sandwiches, made more soup. You know, we would have treated them like family."

"They were pretty rough looking. Are they a motorcycle gang?"

Charlie took that one, "They are a motorcycle club. They are not a gang. They are trying to be good citizens, but have some of their own that make it tough. Hap and Bear work hard to keep their guys away from drugs or other illegal activity. They're doing a pretty good job too."

"Why do they like Steve so much?"

Charlie smiled again and said, "The usual for Steve. He saved both of their lives. He's done some other good deeds that they are thankful for, as well. Steve's shown he's a friend, they've shown Steve he's a brother."

Mercy sat there a while before the usually-quiet Samantha had something to say, "You'll hear it all one of these days. Steve just goes around protecting everyone and saving us all from something or someone. Steve saves them and Sue takes care of them."

"All right, you guys, I'm right here. Enough with all the talk about me." I paused, and asked Charlie, "Can you ride now or do you still have to take it easy?"

Charlie answered, "I went riding last week. My leg still hurts a little. I think I can go out this week though, I should be fine now as long as I don't get hit again."

We cleaned up the table and I helped wash the dishes from lunch. Glenda put the leftover soup into the fridge so someone could have a snack if they wanted. The huge platter of sandwiches was gone. The crew can put away some food.

Sue said she wanted to go down to the plant so she could say hi to everyone before closing. I said I would go with her so I could get my truck, as I had left it there.

We drove to the plant where Sue took Mercy in with her. I walked across the street, smiling at the big S&S sign on the front. I walked in and saw a girl at a desk in front of my office. There was a dog behind her lying on a mat. The girl stood and said, "Welcome to S and S Enterprises. How may I help you?"

Debbie had looked up and came out. Before I could answer the girl, Debbie was in my arms kissing me. "I'm so glad you're back. I kinda thought you might just keep going."

"No chance, Debbie. Let me meet this lovely lady." I said putting Debbie down.

"Cindy, this is the boss. This is Steve Sharp. The guy you've heard so much about."

"Hello, Mr. Sharp, I'm happy to meet you," she said as she offered me her hand. It was at that point that I realized she was blind. I took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and let it drop back to her side.

"I'm very happy to meet you too, Cindy, but my name is Steve. Mr. Sharp would be my dad. Are you enjoying it here? Is there something we can do to make you more comfortable?"

"This is perfect. I can walk to the bathroom from here and walk to the downstairs lunchroom. I've been upstairs too, but mostly just to the downstairs one. All the people are very friendly and very nice. I've even been out to your house already. Debbie brought me out with Deanne and Julie."

I looked at Debbie and asked, "Who is Julie?"

"My other new assistant. Cindy, call Deanne and tell her Steve is here."

That was sort of silly because I could see Deanne working from where I was. I watched Cindy as she pushed the button on her big phone for Deanne and watched as she turned her head with her mouth open. She dropped the phone, and long, tall, Deanne came loping into the showroom. It was a good thing I didn't underestimate her size, as she leaped onto me, wrapping her legs around me, kissing my face. I had to say, "Down girl, down." The dog behind Cindy's desk lifted its head and looked at me.

Another girl, this time a shorter dark-complexioned Latin walked into the show room. Debbie introduced me to Julie, saying that Julie was the daughter of a lady that worked for Sue and had just finished her Associates degree at the community college.

I shook her hand as she stared at me. She finally said, "You're not that tall and you're average to look at, but every female in this place has the hots for you, how come?"