Chapter 65

Hmmm, I almost had too much to drink last night. No wonder, seeing Kathy after a few years and she comes in the door with a baby that my sister says looks just like I did when I was a baby and looks enough like Stevie to be a twin. I have another baby, another son. I'm happy for that, but am I that scary that a woman who professed love would keep this from me?

I gotta get up. This has my head spinning. I need to reason this thing out, then I'll be sane.

But what do my girls think of this? What must they think of me? I'm pretty much scum for not making sure that didn't happen with Kathy. Why didn't she just call me, or write me a letter, or tell Glenda? Damn, I'm getting up, I need coffee.

I slid from bed, pee'd, put on some shorts and T-shirt, and went into the kitchen. It was only four thirty, so I was the only one up. I made coffee for myself and sat at the counter waiting to have that first cup.

"Whoa!" I jumped, when a hand slid around my side and hugged me to a heavy-breasted Sue.

"Sorry, Honey, I didn't mean to scare you," Sue said, kissing my cheek. "Does the news have you upset?"

"An understatement, Sue," I said hugging her back and turning to have her between my legs in a full body hug. "You, Mercy, and Juanita must think I'm really bad for letting something like this happen and not taking care of them."

"Not in the least, Honey," Sue said, hugging me. "We know how you are and how you love us and your kids. The one thing you are not is stingy, and if you knew Kathy needed help, you would have been all over it."

The coffee was gurgling, signifying that it was done, so I got up and poured myself a cup giving Sue a half-cup, along with a glass of orange juice.

She was sitting at the counter now too and said, "When I talked to Kathy before she came, she told me about Greg. She told me that she was afraid to come back down here when he was born, and the longer she didn't tell you, the more difficult she said it was. She wasn't ashamed of having your baby, but she was ashamed she couldn't tell you."

I said, "Sue, the time Kathy and I had together was so short, so intense, but really it was a very short time."

"She knows that too, and said that the horror that went on here during that time drove her away. She was terrified that something would happen to her kids or to her and her kids would be orphans. She just wanted to be gone from here."

I asked, "Why would she be so willing to come down here now? Why wouldn't some of those fears still be present?"

"Steve, Honey, her kids think you are their dad, or at least they want you to be their dad. They know you are Greg's dad and they want some of the love they think you're going to give Greg. Kathy knows from Glenda and Shawna that the place is safe, secure, and full of love now. She had heard how we've expanded our home and the small patio so more and more people can be friends. She's been living up north in a house in a development that you know is probably not all that friendly. She misses her friends here, and she misses you. She wants her kids to grow up here and she wants them to grow up with you as their dad."

I shook my head in lack of understanding and asked the scary question, "How do you feel about this? You and Mercy and our kids are the most important things in my life. Juanita is too, but you two are the mothers of my kids and are carrying five more. Here's this woman walking in the door with four partially grown kids and one about the same age as Stevie. What do you really think about this?"

Sue took my hands in hers and looked at me, "When Kathy was here, I didn't know her well, but I really liked her. When you got together with her, I was very jealous. Well, maybe not jealous, but very envious. I wanted you to be having fun with me the way you were with Kathy. Once we were together, I knew you and I were a match. I still believe that with all my heart. I also learned with Mercy that we three are a match, and then we brought Juanita into our family."

Sue scooted around on her stool, "Kate is a match too, and we could live happily ever after with her, but she still loves Jim, as she should. He's the father of Carson and she wants him to be the father of this new baby as well."

"When Kathy and I talked the first time, I felt something tug inside of me. As we first met when I picked them up, we hugged and I felt that we were going to be together forever. Kathy pulled back and had tears in her eyes. She told me she felt some kind of pull from me that she couldn't explain."

After taking a sip from her orange juice, Sue continued, "I had Kathy ride up front with me so we could talk. We talked about everything. We even talked about this talk you and I are having right this minute. She knew you would be thrown for a loop, but I told her that you would love to have her and her kids. I want her and her kids. Mercy does too, as she thinks they are very sweet and can't wait to smother them with the love she has to give. You should have seen her with Greg. Mercy had Greg down on the floor with Lizzy and Mike, and was explaining to Greg that they are his brother and sister too, just like Stevie is. The two little ones gave Greg one of their two fisted wet smooches and he was won over."

"Mercy had Kathy come down on the floor and sit with her as she introduced Kathy to the little ones. Mike said, 'Ka, Ka, Kathy, mommy Kathy?" She burst out crying and hugged him to her. She got the same two fisted kisses and was instantly in love with the little ones."

"I know this is fast, almost too fast, Steve, but us three girls want to be four now and we want to have five more kids too. The house is big enough and if it isn't, we'll just add another section. Just relax with it, Honey, and everything will work out. Kathy's folks even want to move down here so you know they all feel good about us."

I looked up at Sue, "There's nothing to do but see what'll happen. I'm surprised Kathy just slid right into bed with you guys last night. That was pretty unreal the way you all seem to get along. I hope it lasts, I hope it works."

Kathy came into the kitchen and said, "My ears were ringing. You guys are talking about me."

I held my arms out and she came to me and stood between my legs. I kissed Kathy softly on the lips, hugging her too me. "Yes, we were talking about you, we were talking about how we could make you feel comfortable with all of us and how we are going to brainwash you into joining our family."

"No need to brainwash," Kathy answered. "When Sue and I had our first conversation, I had already talked to Glenda quite a bit. She said that my kids and I would be a perfect fit for this family. She didn't know about Greg yet, but she said over and over to call you and ask to come down. She said I wouldn't be here a day before you guys would try to get me to move in with you."

Kathy reached over and stroked Sue's cheek, "Sue and I talked all the way down here. We only talked about how to make you comfortable with me becoming a part of the family. Steve, I really want to be here. I really want my kids to have a bunch of moms and dads like your little ones. I want them to know that you're their real dad too, though. I don't want them to ever forget Jake, but I want them to call you dad too. The way Mercy and Juanita have opened their arms to me is so special. I fell in love with Sue instantly, and when I met the other two, I knew right away that we would work. Thank you, thank you, Steve, for asking me to come down."

"Sit, have some coffee. Pretty soon it's going to get busy around here. It's getting close to six, so Glenda is probably prowling around in her kitchen waiting for me to turn the light on outside. Maggie is going to show up soon too."

Kathy kissed me, then kissed Sue, "I'll be right back, I have to go potty. If you remember, when I drink coffee, I drink it black."

Sue said, "See, she feels okay about this. She feels better than okay. She wants us, she wants to be a part of us."

When Kathy came back, the clock said five fifty-five, so I turned the light on, opened the doors and turned the TV on to the morning cable news channel.

Kathy said, "When you do something, you do it up right. The patio is awesome. You had the biggest one around before, and now it's a regular party place. There are probably not as many people that come in the morning as there were last night. That was a pretty big crowd last night."

Sue laughed, "Last night was not big. There will probably be more people this morning because a bunch of the guys were at a hockey game and some were out fishing. They will all be here this morning, so you'll get an idea of the regulars. Tonight is the Friday night gathering, and if there is anything special going, there will be a huge crowd. Just hang on. If you want peace and solitude, this isn't the place. When we need to get away, we go sailing."

"Sue said you guys have a sail boat. I'd love to go sailing. Do you take the kids?" Kathy asked.

"We take everyone," Sue said. "The boat is really big and has room for all of us. We'll take a weekend and sail somewhere. Since your kids are in school, we'll either have to home school them, or only travel when they are on vacation."

Glenda came in the house and gave Kathy a hug. "Did you get some loving last night from the father of your smallest?"

"No, Glenda, we all just went to sleep. I think we were all too nervous. Steve got up at some ungodly hour and was out here drinking coffee with Sue when I woke up."

Glenda looked at Sue, "Hmmmm, that's not the way you treat new companions in your bed, Sue. Perhaps we need to let you kids just hang out together today to get to know one another."

Maggie came in at the same instant Tiny, Ruth, Abe, Alice, Margie, Hap, Crystal, Bear, Mickey, and Samantha came in. They began pouring coffee and settling at one of the big tables, talking about what was going on today.

I told Kathy to just sit back and watch, as watching the interaction is just as much fun as being a part of it.

Shawna came in, carrying Sean and leading CJ, who was leading his dad. CJ came and gave Sue, Glenda, and Maggie a kiss and hug. He looked at Kathy, and came over and gave her a kiss and hug too. He said, "Big kids mommy, Greg's mommy, are you my mommy, too?"

Kathy was won. Something small can make such a big difference. Sue went to get our critters up and had Kathy help her get Juanita and Mercy going. I heard some squeals, and it took them a long time to come out. When they did, they were all showered and dressed, and the four kids were with them.

J.J. came out and sat with me. "There's a lot of people out there. Do they come every morning too?"

"They come for coffee and breakfast, J.J." At that moment the bellhop from the hotel showed up with a big box of sandwiches and the two big boxes of pastries.

Susan and Kevin came in with Tina and Dennis. Dennis came over to J.J. and said, "After breakfast we're going over to play some basketball at the sports complex. Do you want to come? Later we'll probably get up a baseball game. If your brothers want to come, they should. We'll have a lot of fun."

Kathy said, "What is the sports complex, and where is it?"

Tiny had come inside and said, "The man here decided the kids in this part of the county needed some baseball fields for little league, so he built them. While he was at it, he built some soccer fields, some football fields, some basketball and tennis courts, and a big meeting building. The county even has a permanent field director out here. We make them leave the courts and some of the fields open for the local kids to play on."

Kathy looked at me funny, "I guess you're more than you look, and more than I thought."

Henry was standing there with a cup of coffee and was laughing hard enough to slosh the coffee out of his cup. "He's a hell of lot more than he looks. He's down right dangerous. A good dangerous though, as wherever he goes, luck, success, and happiness follows."

I whispered to Kathy, "He's my brother, so he's blowing smoke to impress you."

"I heard that," Mercy said. "Steve is lucky and he brings happiness with him. He's become a good businessman too. Wait till you get an idea of what all he's involved in. It's kind of hard to believe."

The patio was now jammed with our crew getting ready to head out to work. I asked Hannah if she was going to head toward the plant in the park, but Henry said he was going to his office over there first thing. I asked Henry if he would give Kathy's dad, Carl, a look at the plant. I told him that Carl may be the answer to our machine mechanic supervisor woes.

Henry said, "I'll take him over to Tim's place and see if he wants to start a class on sewing machine repair. Perhaps Carl knows some folks up north that would want to relocate down here. We have the jobs, we just can't find the people."

Carl said, "Show me this place. If you all are what you sound like, I'll get you a dozen men down here fast. They're all looking for work now that the plant up there closed."

I told Debbie that I probably wasn't going to come in today as I was going to spend some time catching up with Kathy and her kids.

After a shower and dressing in my usual jeans and S&S T-shirt, I gave all the little ones a kiss and hug, including the new four who were negotiating with Bessie about going over to the sports complex. Sue said that the first thing they were going to do was that she was going to take them in my truck down to pick them up some bicycles so they could get around.

Before I could offer, the four kids, along with Tina and Dennis, were on their way to wherever it was that sold bikes. Dennis didn't need a bike, but I had often seen Tammy and him on a bike. Tina had one too and she had her Mustang. I guess bikes out here were important for short trips.

I told Kathy, "Come take a ride with me. Let me show you the sports complex and the park." I took her around to where this household had several carts parked. We used a small one and rode over to the sports complex area.

"Wow, Steve, this place is huge." She began counting, then said, you have two softball fields and six baseball fields all the way from little guys all the way up. J.J. plays ball, so he'll like this. There are four, five, six soccer fields and three football fields? And look at that, there must be ten tennis courts, along with six full-size basketball courts. Ben, Carl and Barb play soccer and Barb loves softball. This place is going to be their haunt. Is it safe out here?"

"Kathy, Hap and Bear are the co-managers of our security group out here. Would you feel good if your kids were being watched by Hap and Bear?"

"No shit, they work here? They're security guards?"

"More than just security guards, they supervise the twenty man crew that watches where we live, the sports complex, and the business park. Let me show you or at least give you a quick look at the park."

We drove down to the RV center, where a big bus was letting a bunch of retirees out to go across the street to the cart plant. There were a few folks who wandered over to the huge RVs to kind of do some wishful thinking. So many times, that wishful thinking became a reality, and we sold another big live-in bus.

I told her about the cart plant and how it became the size it was now. We went to the truck/tractor sales building. It resembles a car dealership, except there are huge trucks in the showroom and out in front of the building. We stopped so we could walk through the maintenance area and the chassis rebuilding plant. I tried to explain what we were doing, but Kathy was a little confused about how much activity there was.

We drove over to the body plant where they were mounting two bodies onto rebuilt chasses. Crystal was in the middle of everything, pushing, pulling, and helping to set it down right so it could be easily bolted on.

From there, we went by what I called the small business mall, where a variety of small businesses flourished. Among them was Billy's place, so I stopped so we could go in and see Billy.

"Holy shit, Kathy, where in the hell have you been? I heard you moved back up north, are you coming back?"

The two hugged and Kathy asked how Connie was, and Kathy said, "I'm moving back to live with Steve and his family. Steve is going to be my kids' dad. Isn't that great?"

"They're lucky kids, Kathy. Steve's a great guy. He'll be a good dad to them. He'll be a good man for you too." Billy looked at me, "You're going to have a full house, Bud. Are you going to have to expand that mansion again?"

"Don't know, Billy, but if we do, we'll just add another section and not worry about it."

We left Billy and looked at the big school where I explained that inside, people were being taught welding, sheet metal work, mechanical techniques, diesel mechanics, small engine repair, fiberglass forming, and if we get lucky, perhaps sewing machine repair.

Kathy said, "So you were serious? You'll really do something with my dad?"

"Very serious, Kathy. Carl is with my brother, Henry, right now, checking out what he has to work with. We need to establish a group to take care of our own equipment instead of farming it out. We don't get perfect work out of contract people the way we should, and our people lose time making clothes. If they can't have confidence in their machine, they don't do their best and they are unhappy. Our people demand of themselves to do a good job. We don't push them to hurry, we push them to be exact, to do a good job on every stitch and cut."

As we drove toward the huge clothing plant complex, Kathy said, "Is that all clothing factory?"

"Actually, Kathy, there are six separate factories there, in the center is a cafeteria for the entire park, and a very large daycare center. We have about two hundred kids in daycare most days, but right now, during spring break there may be five to six hundred kids to take care of. They hire practical nurses and other professional caregivers during these times."

I pointed out into the meadows between the plant and the sports complex, "See those groups of kids? The daycare folks try to get them outside to play a little during the day. They will go back in to watch movies or do crafts. We have to take care of the kids if their folks are going to do a good job."

I drove through the winding roads out to the motel. "This is ours, too. We also lease the buildings for the restaurant across the highway and the other one down the road. There is a new Carrabas just up the road in our little center, and on the other side of the trailer park is a shopping center with Publix and a bunch of other shops. Let's drive back through the main gate so you can see that we do have security."

A young guy who checked every car and truck that entered was manning the gate. When I drove up, he hollered, "Morning, Mr. Sharp." I introduced him to Kathy and told him she would be living here now and that we would make sure everyone knew her, her kids, and her folks. The young guy was very nice and said, "Welcome to our home, Ma'am. This is great place to live and work."

When we got back to the house, Martin was just finishing adjusting bicycles to fit the kids. They were ready for a ride so they asked Kathy if they could go with Dennis, Tina, and Tammy. Kathy smiled and said, be careful and listen to what Dennis tells you okay?"

"Okay, Mom," came the chorus.

They all rode off, with Tina and Tammy following to make sure everyone stayed together. I smiled that Dennis and Tina were so responsible. I wondered why they were not working today, as they usually worked on non-school days.

When we went back into the patio, Kathy went to sit at one of the small round tables. When Juanita, Mercy, and Glenda joined her, Kathy said, "This is too much. Steve just showed me the business park and all of the businesses there. There must be two, three thousand people over there."

Sue came up and said, "Not that many, but close to two thousand over there now."

"Do they all work for you guys? Is that all yours? How can that be?"

Sue pulled up a chair while I went for coffee. Sue explained, "Steve started his business in the small rental place down the road and made a deal for a building down that way. I'll take you down to see my plant there too. Anyway, he surrounded himself with people who put out great product and helped him sell equipment. Every time he made money, he put it back into the business. He kept doing this and as you can see, his ideas, his work practices, business sense, and luck have really grown the businesses."

Sue had everyone get something to drink and sit back down. "I had a small business where I sold clothes over the Internet. Steve encouraged me, and with some luck, the clothing business grew by leaps and bounds. I made a lucky deal on a factory across the street from Steve's shop, and let him show my people how to do perfect work and the concept of doing their best. It worked, that place has outgrown itself, and is now three big buildings that employ about six hundred garment workers. We know we can't continue to grow the way we have, but we're trying to help the community at the same time. We train garment workers and Steve has a training center that teaches trades. Every time Steve has had a challenge, we end up growing. Every time we try a new idea, we end up with a new company and continue to grow. This is all overwhelming to you, and it's overwhelming to Steve. I'm used to it, as Steve just keeps coming up with more and more ways for his company to expand."

I had to say something. "Kathy, I'm not the key here, people like Abe, Tiny, Ruth, Judy, Phil, Ryan, and so many more, are what make this place work. When I've given Phil the chance to sell something, he's sold all we can have built and make. When I give Tiny some money, he invests it and it grows in bunches. Some of it is luck, but most of it is the people who make this place tick. The core is those that you see here in the morning and in the evening."

At that instant, a big truck came and a crew began erecting a big tent.

"What now?" asked Kathy.

Mercy said, "When Phil, Tiny, Ryan, or one of Sue's people have something to announce, we have the folks come out for a Friday night party. We'll have food, lots to drink, some horseshoe and pool games, lots of music and fun, and the announcements. You'll love this, Kathy, it is special. Oh, the caterer's here, I need to talk to him."

Mercy left to talk to the caterer then came back. "Tiny ordered the party, so it's either him, Phil, or Ryan, or all three, that have something to announce. See that, they're going to have two bars in the big tent tonight, so that means a lot of people. Watch, the beer truck will be here any minute with two kegs for out there and an extra one for in here."

Maggie had been out talking to the caterer too and came back in. "Oh boy, barbecue tonight. Barbecued brisket, with some beef and pork roasts. Good eating tonight."

Kathy said, "This is all just so amazing. Let me check on Greg to see how he's doing."

I went inside with Kathy to see Susan and Beth sitting on the floor with all the kids. Bessie was sitting with the two women listening and learning how they were teaching. The older ones were sitting in a circle and the three smaller kids were sitting in the front. Susan was having them use a word, then she would give them another. Greg was having a great time and would smile and answer each time it was his turn. Kathy grabbed my hand and took me back to the patio.

"They're teaching them all how to talk. You, Sue, or Mercy said they did that, but I didn't think they really did. My God, did you hear Greg, he sounded like an adult. Wow, that's really something. Do they do that often?"

Sue said, "Every day they're all here. When we were gone, Susan did it by herself during that time. I think you helped too, didn't you, Glenda?"

"I'm not as good as they are. Sue's mom loves to come out when she's in town. She just adores all of the little ones. When she met Greg, she was all agog over another grandbaby. She'll be spoiling him rotten."

Mercy said, "Wow! Wait till Mom hears we have another baby and four more big kids. I bet she'll be here in a flash. Dad's going to have a fit. He thinks we're a cult anyway, so he's going to flip out over us expanding the family this way."

Mercy said to Kathy, "Get your mom, and let Juanita and me take you over to Dunedin to show you some more of Steve and his guys' dealings. Steve, we won't go out, we'll just show Kathy around a little and fill her in on our trip."

Sue said, "Let's get lunch with the kids and while they are down for a nap, we'll go to the gym and up to the pool for some sun. If the girls get back, they can come up to the pool too."

Shortly after the girls left for Dunedin, the big kids all came back, riding their bikes, with the new four exclaiming about the tent. Dennis and Tina tried to explain the deal, but ended up just saying, "Wait, you'll see. It's wild with a couple hundred of your Dad's friends here."

There was barely a pause before Dennis looked around, "What's for lunch? Do you want us to warm up some soup and start making sandwiches?"

Sue and I helped Glenda, Dennis, and Tina get stuff ready. J.J, Ben, Carl, and Barb all helped with glasses of milk and getting some high chairs out. Soon more and more people showed up for lunch. There were only about twenty-five, but it was still impressive to someone not used to it.

Henry and Carl came for lunch and met Nancy, who was returning from the other factory. She had been helping Ruth hire new folks for the coming training cycle.

We told Carl that Bessie and Kathy had gone over to Dunedin to check out our charter services there. I told him, "We have some fishing boats, big ones, flats boats, and we now have some sailboats that go out on charter. They should all be in port right now, getting ready to either leave for the weekend or go out for a week or a month. The girls really enjoy sailing."

"What size sailboats do you have? I had a twenty-six footer when Kathy was young. She really liked it."

Sue said casually, "Our smallest is sixty feet, but we have a very nice hundred and ten footer, and our big one is a hundred and seventy-five footer."

Carl choked and blew bits of sandwich all over. "Did you say a hundred seventy-five foot?"

Sue smiled, "We just got back from sailing it to Europe and back. We'll have to tell you about it."

Beth chimed in, "Mercy's mother went with them and I met them in Rome. We did a lot of sightseeing and when we went to the Riviera, Steve won so much money, they wanted him to leave."

"Oh Beth, they didn't want us to leave. They wanted us to lose some of it back to them," I said, scoffing at the idea that they would make us leave.

Beth went right on, "One of Steve's friends owns part of a casino there and one of the big hotels. The man is super-wealthy, but is always following Steve as he says Steve brings him luck."

Carl said, "Steve, you have so much going on, I don't know what to believe. Henry shocked me when he said you have an air charter service and you even own a Lear Jet. Is that true?"

"Yes sir, the company leases a Lear Jet. The air charter company has a bunch of airplanes. That reminds me, Sue, we need to put our dibs in on trading for the 1900D. Our family is now too big for anything else."

"Get us a Gulfstream, Steve. That would work."

"No way. The Super King Air will be fine. If there are only a couple of us, we can always use one of the smaller 200's."

"Or the Lear, Honey, you know I'm scheduled for the school, don't you? And Mercy is signed up with DeeDee to begin flight school next month. We're going to be a flying family."

Carl said, "You really do have all of this going, don't you? I remember you in that little trailer house that was right here when we came to get Kathy and the kids. She was so upset, I thought she was going to have a breakdown. She didn't want to leave you, but she just had to get out of here. She was a little afraid of you though, because of the way you had to be to protect them. You reminded her so much of Jake, that she felt like she was leaving Jake, and knew she wanted to be away from here then."

When we finished lunch, Sue helped get the kids settled down, lying in the living room before a bunch of us took off for the gym. All of Kathy's kids came with us to see what we did and joined us first on the treadmills, and on the weight machines. J.J. said he had been going to the gym with his mom and had been doing a series of exercises meant for his age to build muscle without hurting himself. He said that he had been teaching Carl and Ben the same exercises, but they didn't come often. The surprise was little Barbara. Of course she wasn't so little anymore, but she jumped on a treadmill and worked herself up to six miles an hour at a very steep incline. She maintained that until we were ready to leave. Her only comment was, "I'll never be a weightlifter or super strong girl, but I'll be able to run forever. That's my goal."

We went home, put on swimsuits and altogether, including Greg, went to the pool where Beth and Glenda were instructing everyone to put on sunscreen and lotion. The Florida people were already pretty tan, but the northern folks were very pale.