Chapter 19: Bonding

I had built a nice fire in the fireplace and when it came time to go to bed we spread out an oversize sleeping bag and pulled some covers off the beds. The sleeping arrangements were a little strange. I got the place furthest from the fireplace so I could get up easily to put more wood on the fire during the night. Brenda next to me then came Teresa, Virginia and Linda who was closest to the fire. I was thoroughly kissed before we settled down and even then a lot of cuddling was taking place.

Brenda remained stiff in my arms for quite a while then I felt her start to cry softly. I touched her mind and beamed, "Sweetheart what is the problem?"

"I have never felt so alone and when you did not call I felt like you did not want me!"

"We did not get home until after midnight then had to take care of some business today but you were always on our mind. We all love you!" I sent along with the all the love and concern for her I could. This did not work the way I thought it would! It caused Brenda to cry harder which woke Teresa up who joined me in cuddling Brenda so I also connected to her.

"I don't deserve you all. Here I was thinking you had forgotten me! I was feeling sorry for myself..."

"Brenda, I went through a divorce and it was rough on me and I felt pretty low at times. I cannot image how it is to lose ones mate but I know you have to be going through some adjustments. We are all here for you and I for one never want to hear you put yourself down again!" beamed Teresa.

While Teresa had been talking, I had connected to Linda and Virginia too. Virginia sent "That's the way to tell her. I think that we need to take the next five nights to do our mind meld. I will start tonight then Linda tomorrow night. After that you Brenda and Teresa can wrestle to see who goes next. George you can be the last and will end with our little Ceremony of Joining. Is that okay with everybody?"

There was a chorus of agreement then we all entered Virginia's mind and looked at her different memories. Many questions were asked of her. Teresa was astounded at first then started digging into Virginia for any memories of me. One of her questions was why did she leave me the first time when she started to love me. Virginia explained that at the time she was scared to make another commitment to a man and also since we were working at the same place with her in personnel it seemed better to just remain friends.

Brenda was concerned more about how the Lab had treated both Virginia and me. She sent much praise to Virginia for trying to protect me while I was injured. I think Linda was working to facilitate our relationship because she asked questions of Virginia about how she felt our family was going to work. The funny thing about this was that all the women agreed that Virginia was to be the first wife and each of them in turned swore they would support Virginia.

Brenda ended up being very happy and Virginia was almost in tears from the expression of love and support she received from everybody. It was about 4 AM when we finally fell asleep. Pop woke us at eight with two thermoses full of coffee. I kept him in the kitchen while the women made themselves presentable.

After everybody was up and had a cup of coffee Pop insisted that we swing by the new house to see its status. What a surprise! It was closed in and they had started on the interior already. One crew was working on the exterior by moving gravel and dirt to fill in behind the back walls and cover the roof; this would be done in another day.

As for the interior.most of the framework for the walls was completed. When I talked to the site foreman I asked him to be sure and put insulation in every wall including the interior ones. The site Forman Mitch James said "That is a good idea it will add sound proofing along with the ability to use zone heating or cooling."

Virginia asked, "What do you mean by zone heating or cooling?"

"You will be able to shut the doors and vents to a room or rooms and not have to heat or cool them. With the insulation in the interior walls it will keep you from losing too much heat or cool into those areas, thereby saving on the utilities." Mitch explained.

He said that most of the wiring would be run by the end of next week and that shortly after that the drywall should be up. Then the painting and installation of the bathroom and kitchen fixtures would take place. In short in two to three more weeks the house should almost be completed.

As we drove down the drive Pop said Joe Furgusson had made a suggestion about the width of the drive. He suggested that we make about four pullouts along the way so someone coming in could pass someone going out. Otherwise leave it a single lane drive. In the narrow area we could put in gates to allow the movement of livestock from one side to the other simply by opening the gates and making a chute between the two fences. I told Pop that sounded like a good idea but what about during the winter when we needed to plow. Pop gave me a dirty look and stopped talking.

I could not figure out if I upset him or just caused him to start thinking. I already knew we would have to install a drift fence along one side of the drive or it would be impassable where it cut through the small ridge before turning to parallel the trees.

The trees had been a natural wind break for the road leading to the old house and we were on the wrong side of the trees for them to do any good.

I told Pop the drive looked to be pretty good and he said, "It should I had them hauled in 12 loads of crushed rock and let the construction trucks pack it down after we spread it out!"

Pop was quiet again until we were pulling into his ranch yard then he said, "You know even if the drive was two lanes by the end of winter it would be down to one. We need to find a way to throw the snow over the fence."

Teresa said, "Why not get a snow blower?"

"Pop looked at me and said, "They cost a lot of money!"

"Well I have some saved up; can we check on it?" asked Teresa.

"Teresa honey, believe me Pop and George have money they just don't spend it without a reason or really good deal!" exclaimed Virginia.

The discussion was then dropped and we made steak and eggs for breakfast. Brenda was sticking as close to me as possible and Pop comment over breakfast, "You seem to have developed a new attachment since you were gone."

"Yes, Teresa is a very welcome part of the family!" I stated.

"We all love Teresa, she is very special!" stated Brenda.

"Teresa is sitting over here and is not the appendage I was referring to." commented Pop.

Brenda immediately blushed red and Linda and Virginia came to her aid, which just caused Brenda to blush more, but I think she was secretly pleased. Pop then said, "I'm very happy you have decided to stay and although I do not know Teresa very well the both of you are welcome to the family."

All four women went to give Pop a hug and kiss and it was his turn to be embarrassed. "Son, please don't bring any more wives home I don't think my heart can take it!"

At that sally everybody started laughing and I knew that Pop had accepted every one of them and I was extremely proud of him and my wives. Just then there was a knock on the door and Mitch James the site foreman entered the kitchen. Pop got him a cup of coffee and he joined us at the table.

"About the cabin I have four men who have a week before they will be starting their new project and if you would like they would be willing to work on the cabin in exchange for its use one week during the coming hunting season. All four have experience with masonry and concrete." explained Mitch.

"Do they realize that once they are up there they will be staying the week without amenities?" asked Pop.

"Yes and I think two of them want to take their wives and kids as a small vacation but not during the hunting season." replied Mitch.

"Well as far as I know we have the foundation frames in place but do not have enough cement, sand and gravel up there to do the concrete work. I guess we could have that flown in. We are still short some rock but I guess we could be gathering it as they work on the rest. What do you think ladies?" I queried.

Virginia looked at the others then said, "I think we should take advantage of the offer but the men must only hunt further up the mountain not on the Key's property. Can we meet them?"

"Sure, they're outside in the pick-up!" stated Mitch.

"Well go get them, we don't leave people sitting outside on this ranch!" exclaimed Brenda. Then she blushed red and all of us chuckled but Pop added, "She's right—ask the men in!"

Mitch went to fetch the men and introduced Bob and Hank Fischer, Rob Franks, and Pete Tripp. We talked for a few minutes and found the men to be acceptable; the brothers wanted to bring their wives and children for the week and would provide all the food required. When they found out that we rode horses to the cabin normally Bob and Hank really got excited and asked if they could bring their horses so the family could ride up there also, Teresa stated she had never ridden a horse that far.

We explained that while they could have liquor for an evening drink after work but during the deer season there would be none allowed on the property. Next we outlined the property boundaries and that they could hunt up the mountain but not down because the Key's owned the land below the cabin.

Bob and Hank said they would be here Sunday to take the trail ride up to the cabin with their families. I explained that Rob and Pete could meet us at the Key's north pasture and we would take them up using the ATV along with most of the food and other supplies.

Further conversation came up with the idea of having the cement flown in by helicopter approximately two loads. A third flight could bring in the roof trusses saving us many man-hours. It was noon when the unintentional meeting broke up.

One of the last items mentioned was by Mitch who explained that he had a Caterpillar 430D Backhoe that might be able to make it up the trail to the cabin and could be used to dig a hole for the septic tank. I started to say the trail was not wide enough when Pop said, "Although the trail right now is wide enough for the ATV's I see no reason that it should not make it. Mitch and I used the ATV's to travel up there last weekend."

"Then why not use trucks to bring in the concrete and trusses?" I asked.

"The backhoe may have to do some maneuvering to make it but the cement trucks could not make the required turns and most likely weigh too much for parts of the trail. The problem with the trusses is they are too long and could not make the required turns on the trail. Beside if the backhoe needs to it can be used to widen or repair the trail if necessary." stated Mitch.

"Okay when do I get the backhoe?" I asked.

"We should be finished using it on the roof of your house around noon Friday and have it loaded onto its trailer. The schedule is for it to be picked up late Monday afternoon." explained Mitch.