Chapter 5

For most of my adult life professors, business associates and friends have commented that I think and act older than my age. No Doubt, part of that was growing up as an only child. It's not my parents' fault, but I became a miniadult early on. My role models were adults, and they were having fun being adults, so I wanted to be like them and treated as one, so you just became older in your actions and views. It doesn't mean that I didn't have a good childhood or never had any fun with kids, but I learned to think and act a lot like my parents too.

Because I was the miniadult I was exposed to areas and developed interests that were different as those my age. On top of that add the natural geek in me, and I'm your basic know it all. People would ask how I knew everything, and I gave them five little words. Google, Yahoo and Ask Jeeves. When you have those search engines you can learn just about anything that's recorded. Of course no one writes down the clan rules so it was mute on that subject. Yes, that means I searched but nothing is written about that subject.

Then there is the idea that I could deny that I wanted to have my three willing and wanton women in bed with me. I have been lying to myself about that almost from the beginning. My blood runs wild at the idea, find me a heterosexual man's. Whose doesn't and I'll show you a liar.

They're mine already at the cock of an eye. I didn't make the decision about being mated up with them until a lot more thought than I expressed here. I am comfortable about it because Lana is ecstatic about it. I can tell that each of them are, and it feels right to me if anything could feel right when your talking about being mated up with identical triplets. I am going to try to hold firm in not having children with them until we're mated up and with the clan rules that should be easily respected and followed.

I wasn't learning anything about farming, Could not even begin to tell you about it. I was learning about loving, mating, practicing plus holding beautiful willing if not wanton women in my arms in the moonlight with my mate's approval. I was having no trouble there, no trouble at all. Of course who knows what trouble was brewing ahead?

I found out the next day what every farmer knows. The weather controls all and today's control was rain. It blew in sometime overnight and the rooster woke me up to raindrops falling on the roof. Lana was in her position but the rooster had not woken her yet. I wanted to but knew after I did she would shortly be on her knees at the porcelain throne. It's difficult to think of waking her only to see her there, but it was inevitable, so I leaned down and kissed her nose. She looked at up at me for a moment before she made a mad dash for the bathroom.

I went for the glass of water and came back with it, the saltines and to hold the wet washcloth on her neck. I pulled her onto my lap and just tried to comfort her. The tub I leaned against was cold but my love for her was hot, so I just used that to keep warm.

She finally got past the point of discomfort and went to nibble on the crackers. I did my morning routine and stopped to kiss her as she passed me headed back to the bathroom. I admit knowing nothing more than I had read about pregnancy or how long morning sickness would last, but I decided holding her every morning until it did was best.

Am I a romantic doing this what others didn't think I needed to? Who knows or cares but I knew that it was of comfort to her and that was all that it needed to be? Of course she told all the women what I did over breakfast that morning and the melting iceberg looks were all around.

We menfolk (funny how in a few short days I am thinking in some terms that are used there) headed off to the living room with our coffee to unpack the boxes of toys that I brought back yesterday. Harry and Cletus were bigger kids that I was with them and had everything out of the packages before Pap, and I were seated comfortably, it seemed. The computer went together easily and was up and running in no time. I noticed that Harry had not plugged it into the power backup and had him shut it all off and do that. With the rain one lighting strike and it would be fried before we could move to shut it off.

The cameras, motion sensors, routers and various other parts we took back into the kitchen and set out on the table. Pap went and found some tools that helped in putting it all together, and then we needed the computer of course. So we went and took it apart and put it together and then hooked up everything remembering the power backup this time. Once we hooked up the router to the computer we turned on a couple of the cameras without the motion sensors to get a constant signal. I tinkered with the software; it wasn't user-friendly where someone without knowledge could make it work out of the box. My abilities to manipulate it helped make it work quicker than a novice.

Once it was up and running everyone stopped to come over and look. Then the questions started.

Tammy asked. "What are they and what do they do?"

I knew she was the wrong one to tease, but I just could not help myself. "These are cameras with motion sensors that will feed into the computer here."

"Oh, why are we having those?"

"As head of the clan I told you I had different rules, well I am going to be installing them in all the rooms of the house, so I can see what everyone is doing all the time."

She was angry. "What do you mean in every room?"

"Tammy, don't be angry. I want to make sure everyone who I am responsible for is safe all the time there in the house. So I will be watching you when you're not near me in the house."

"That ain't right, no matter if you're head of the clan or not. You cant'a bein' a watching us all like that. Sometimes we need our privacy."

There comes a time when you are on the verge of hurting someone more than you should. I had learned the hard way when I was Fifteen with a good friend of mine at the time. He and I were never as close after I had humiliated him by not stopping a joke when it was still a joke. The older ones could have taken it but not Tammy.

I stopped and said. "No Tammy, I was only joking with you. That is not what they are for. I would never invade anyone's privacy, unless I was worried they were trying to hurt themselves or others."

She looked near tears. "What are they for then?"

"Tammy, Pap and I are worried that Bob isn't done with trying to hurt me or others. So while we can't stop him from trying, we are going to put up some cameras outside the house, so we can see out there just in case."

Tammy was still a bit unsettled, so I decide that showing her how everything worked might help get her mind off the joke I should not have tried with her.

"Come here Tammy. Help us put the rest of this together so we can get it all working right." That was the exact right move to make. She came over and had Harry to vacate the seat next to me.

Her smaller hands could put the parts for the cameras and sensors together faster than the rest of us combined it seemed. Then she was getting all the frequencies set and them going to the router ten at a time. It quickly became her and my project to work on and the others wandered off to the porch.

Betty Ann finally told us we had to move everything or there would be no lunch. Luckily, by that time we had tested all the routers, cameras, sensors and frequencies. Harry came back over and we packed it all up and put it in the living room again.

I walked in and got a glass of iced tea and got out from underfoot and onto the porch too. Pap and Cletus were there and Harry showed up after me.

It was Pap that spoke. "It was good that you stopped your teasing with her."

"I made a mistake with it a longtime ago that cost me a friend. I promised that I would ever take a joke to far with someone again after that. I could tell I was almost too far with her."

"You a bein' a good man and wise beyond your years to be a understandin' that."

"It was a steep price to pay the first time."

"She did be a likein' the time you two worked on all of that together. Got us outa the way in a hurry." Pap grinned.

"She does seem to have some real skill with that."

"That wasn't only skill. She got to be near you, and you could bee'n shoveling out the barn stalls and she would have been right next to you."

I just shook my head. "Lana told me life has a way of changing when we first talked about this. Any new ideas about this Pap?"

"Not a one. The trips mention anything?"

"Nope." My dad's comment of interesting popped in my head for some reason. "It is going to be interesting though."

"That a bee'in an understatement."

They called us to lunch, and we sat down. There was no break coming from any of them about this. After we were had loaded up Mam asked "What all were you doin and what did it all do?".

Tammy spoke almost nonstop through lunch about it. How I did this with her and showed her that and how it all worked because I knew everything to make it work. I tuned out for a bit and wondered; Do I fight or surrender this time? The other three had as much at stake in that and no way was I going down this road by myself.

After Lunch I went over and kissed Lana. "I promised to take Tammy out to talk with her. Any idea where would be a good place to do that?"

"There is an ice-cream place over near the Chinese restaurant you got the food from the other night."

"Okay, I'll take her there then. Any words of wisdom from you, Shana or Jana?"

"Sorry baby, you're on your own for now." And she gave me another kiss.

"Tammy, are youready to go out for awhile?"

She came bounding over and put her hand in mine. "Sure, where are we going?"

"Out, crazy, nuts, over the rainbow, anywhere and everywhere. Any of those places sound good to you?"

"Just as long as it's with you, it's fine with me."

Tammy wanted to be with me. There was nothing wrong with it, and I saw that I was being a stick-in-the-mud about being with her. It wasn't right of me, and I had promised Betty Ann, I wouldn't hurt Tammy. So I decided that I would just have fun and see what happened. We were out on the porch, and she still had a firm grip of my hand. What the hell. I pulled her out into the rain and lifted her up and spun her around in it.

She was starry-eyed in the Ford and talking about everything and nothing from that moment on. I listened and nodded as we drove out the drive and then towards the Chinese place. A couple of wrong turns later that she did not say a word about. We got to our destination.

I walked around and opened her door. The rain had slowed for the moment so we escaped with a few drops, and I took her inside with me. We ordered sundries which I paid for as she picked them up. We sat down at one of those little uncomfortable tables with the wire backed chairs.

"Tammy we don't know much about each other, tell me about you."

"Steve, I'm going to be Eighteenbefore the end of the year, and I'm a country girl. I'll tell you straight away that I want to be mated up with you. I want to be the forth wife."

Where the hell did that come from? Pap, Mam, Betty Ann, Shana, Jana, Lana and Harry had all told me she was shy and quite. What she just laid out did not fit any concept of what I had about shy and quiet. Okay Steve, slow down, breath, think. There was a pitcher of what I thought would be water and some small cups on the counter that I had spied when we were ordering. So I took a moment to go and get us each a cup, of what was water and then came back over and sat down.

"Steve, Steve, What's the matter?"

"What did you just say?"

With a firm voice she repeated exactly word for word what she had said.

"Tammy, we don't even know each other. How can you want that?"

"Look Steve, Lana brought you back her to be the head of the clan. The other two agreed to be your bitches just on Lana's say so. Pap has sold you the farm and installed you as head of the clan. I heard you the other day when you were having your picnic. There ain't no doubt that before long you're going to be mated up with both Shana and Jana. It all fits with what I want for a mate. If I have to share you with anyone it would be those three or Connie. Cletus is a nice man and will take good care of Connie but I don't care for him the way that Connie does. I want you, I want to be mated up with you and I know I have to share you with them." She finally stopped to take a breath.

I was sitting there with my jaw on the table and my head spinning. "Tammy your only 17 and have a lot of time to make this choice."

"Steve, I have worked on every argument that you, Pap, Mam, Mama, Connie, Lana, Shana, and Jana care to offer up. We can spend all of our time discussin every objection, or you can come to the realization that I am completely capable of loving you and being mated up with you."

Do the words shock and awe mean anything to you in your life? There was one thing for certain Tammy was smart, and I don't care what any of the rest of them said there was nothing shy or quiet about her. Then when you added her determination into the mix with it's a full frontal assault.

"Tammy, I do not know what to say. I did not accept this at all. I need some time to digest it."

"Oh Steve, I don't expect it to happen before your done wooing and romancing the others. And I expect that same wooing and romancing but just know that I know what I want. Now are you going to finish that sundae or can I have it?"

Did I mention a deer in the headlights before? How about being in the crosshairs? So here I am head of the clan, and I'm lost in a world that a Seventeen year old has just turned upside down and shook.

She of course is eating my sundae and doing so with some pretty suggestive tongue action. Slowly, I came back down and processed everything she had said. With her brains I had no doubt she had likely worked it all out. I wasn't just going to roll over and play dead, plus there was the other three who would have to be consulted. But the gauntlet had been thrown down. Yeah, Pap, life is slower around these parts.

We finished or better put. She finished the sundae, and we got back in the Ford. This time Tammy gave me directions back to the farm. We didn't talk much as everything that needed to be said at this point she had said. Once we were back she hopped out and I got to the porch and just sat. Pap, Cletus and Harry looked at me and someone said something but I couldn't tell you who.

Lana showed up with a glass of iced tea for me. I remember asking her for a beer instead. I got the beer and remember drinking it. Some time after I had finished the first one another had appeared and then another about the time the second one was finished, I finally heard pap's voice. "So what all did she say to you that has you like this?"

"She wants to be mated up with me and be my fourth wife. She said it straight out not one word outa place. Like it was the only goal she wanted from her life."

"Not Tammy. She is shy and quiet." Pap said.

"Pap, you could not pull a bigger surprise on someone that she has just pulled on me. She said it as sure as I am sitting here. Oh, she will wait for the others first but that's what she wants and expects to happen. Plus her share of wooing and romance of course."

It was Cletus now. "You sure this is Tammy were talking about?"

"Am I sitting here?"

"Yep."

"Then it's her, she just spat it out and looked right at me like, there was not another choice. It's done wrapped up with a bow on it, Merry Christmas."

Of course Harry had to pipe in. "That ain't the Tammy we all know."

"It isn't or ain't the Tammy anybody knows. She just told me how it is and that is that end of that story. No discussion, no changes, no negotiations."

Stunned silence prevailed.

"Of course, if she goes back to the same Tammy no one's going to believe it. Hell, I don't believe it, and she told me twice."

We just sat there for awhile, and then I drank the tea that Lana had brought me. Nature called and I went inside to take care of it. There was Tammy just being her same old self. She saw me came up and kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for the sundae.

I was in the bathroom when it hit me. Pap told me they were crack troops and this was a full frontal attack. Tammy was shy and quiet. That was what everyone said time and again. Either Tammy changed overnight or we had moved into a new battle tactic.

Was my little joke with Tammy this morning being repaid in spades even though I thought I didn't take it too far? Or was she just that certain of what she wanted and risked everything to make it clear to me? For the moment, all I could think to do was sit back and wait.

Of course I couldn't get it out of my head that easily. I was trying but the beers were clouding my thought processes at this point. There wasn't a way to prove that what Tammy said she had or hadn't meant. I didn't think that someone would use Tammy like this given the warning about not hurting her, I had received. But if they were this was Guerrilla warfare.

I had shown a weakness coming back the way I did and having the beers. I finally decided that I just had to drop it and let it pass. It would drive me crazy if I got a complex going about it. Then again, Tammy could have changed and this was for real. In which case I didn't want to hurt her or dwell on what it meant. I still had Shana and Jana to woo and romance. Stop to just stop and take one step, small calculated steps.

I came out and went and got my glass for some more tea. Nothing had changed but I needed to flush some more of the beer from my system. I went back on the porch and took my seat. I decided to change the subject and asked.

"Pap, did you have a diagram as to how we could set up the cameras once it stops raining?"

He looked at me kind of strange which meant we would continue the discussion about Tammy, so I shot him a quick wink. I figured that since he had baptized me, already he was the safest one to trust. "Nope, I figured we would be just setting them close where we wanted and then adjusting them once they were in place."

"Okay, that sounds good"

We kept the discussion about several other things until dinner was called for. We ate and chatted about nothing of any importance and then were shooed out from underfoot. Shana brought my tea after I was back in my chair along with a glass for Pap. Connie had come out and Cletus went with her to the barn. The other two had followed them a minute later to do the evening chores. The rain had tapered off to a light drizzle, and I guessed would stop at some point.

"So Pap what's the plan for tomorrow?" I asked.

"Well, the cattle should be moved from their pasture. That will depend on the depth of the creek. I need to check on a couple of the fields and see if there are any bugs or critters gett'n in them and then there is the cameras. So we have a full day ahead of us."

"I guess that I need to start getting a better idea of what is all involved."

"Everything is planted and growing it's mostly keeping up. That plus checking on the place over to make sure nothing is going bad."

I changed the conversation direction when I asked. "So who has farms around your and how big are they?"

"I told you about Clem's place, they have the same amount of land, we do. On the other side of us is Hap and Rachel Smith. All their kids are grown so they're running it on the small side, but they have more land than both us and Clem. Behind us is Max and Jody Tyler, they have some small young'ns so Jody stays home with them. They have less land that us but Max works for the county, so they don't have a real full-time farming operation going. Across the way the bank owns it's a small parcel mostly trees about a quarter the size of ours."

"If you were looking to buy one of those places which one would you want and which one could you get?"

"You're thinking of buy'n another place?"

"I didn't think that you would have sold me this one like you did. Back when Lana and I decided to move here. I thought I was going to need a place of our own. So my mind is set to buying a place. Who do you think is the most approachable about selling?"

"I think for the right money Hap and Rachel would sell. It's been in their family for a long time but none of the kids want to come back and live here. I like the Tyler place because the way the water runs through it. And there is a nice stand of trees that you could sell on the back side. But he is pretty well-set with the county and Jody loves the land and having all there kids raised out here. Ain't no use in talking with Clem. That piece the bank owns no one wants."