Chapter 11

By the time supper was served, everyone had calmed down, and Theresa really believed we had all just been teasing her. Rob went into his bedroom right after supper and brought me out a very small handful of individually wrapped condoms. I put them in my pocket without realizing they were the magnum size. I had no use for condoms in that size, but I was too embarrassed to return them to him right away. I waited for a few days and then handed them back, hoping he'd think I had bought my own, and was giving his back out of my own newly purchased supplies. I found out more than a year later that Rob had given me the magnums as a joke. Like me, the regular size was what he used. He kept the magnums around, he said, to impress anyone who might be going through his dresser drawers. My brother had the sort of mind that anticipated things like that.

There was no question that my being with Tina had a lot to do with me being calmer, not to mention less stressed out. I remained concerned about the future, but not to the same degree that I once had been.

After Tina got back from visiting her sister, I had anticipated that a lot of things would be changed about the way we'd start relating to each other. When you start having sex with a woman, that changes almost everything, doesn't it? Apparently, this wasn't the case with Tina. I actually ended up seeing less of her than I had before we went upstairs to my room that one day. I started having doubts about how I'd performed with her.

I thought it had been nearly perfect. the way she smelled, tasted, moved and responded were everything a man could hope for in a sex partner. This was especially true when you remember this had been our very first time to be together like that. It had been exciting, passionate, physically demanding, and very, very, satisfying for me. I had believed it was pretty much the same for her. All the indications were that it had been.

I was left to wonder why, if it had been that good for her too, we weren't getting together, and, at the very least, spending more time together? I wasn't the one who was changing his routine. I was still all over the farm, every day. Easily visible, and very approachable, for anyone who might be interested in spending some time with me. It was Tina who had practically disappeared from my sight. Every time I was outside, I found myself looking all around for her.

"Are you looking for me, Kyle?" The sound of her voice startled me.

"Not this minute, but I have been. Why have you been avoiding me?"

"Because, now that something finally happened with us, I'm not so sure it wasn't all a big mistake. A mistake for each of us."

"All right. Can you be a little bit more specific? What part was the big mistake?"

"Sleeping with you. Letting you fuck me before we were both ready for that."

"So, you're having second thoughts? Okay, I guess I can understand how that could happen. Maybe it was different for you than it was for me. I haven't had any second thoughts. We can certainly slow things down though, if that would be better for you."

"You think we can just stop fucking, now that we've already done it that first time?"

"We have stopped, haven't we? I've barely seen you ever since you left to go visit Anita. That was a week ago. This is the first time we've even talked to each other since then. Seems like we've stopped fucking already, whether we both planned to or not."

"I've been busy, thinking about what happened, and seeing how I felt about it. Now that I've thought about it, I wanted to come here, so I could talk to you, and we could see where things stood with us."

"Okay. I'll go first then. I really liked being with you. The sex was wonderful, and it felt right. As far as I was concerned, at least. I'm a bit surprised that you've had these doubts, but I'm glad we're here now, talking again."

"What about Anita?"

"Anita? What does Anita have to do with anything?"

"How did what we did compare to what you two had?"

"I'm not sure I understand why you would want to talk about that. It didn't always feel the same way with Anita. It was very good, especially when I loved her. That has been over for a long time though. We haven't been together for ages. I don't love Anita anymore, and I hardly ever even think about her. What we have is entirely different, and has absolutely nothing to do with anyone, except for the two of us."

"I don't want to end up being your substitute Anita. I don't want you thinking about her when you're in bed with me. You say that you're over her, but how do I really know that you are?"

"That's a fair question, I guess. I'm not sure how I can go around proving something like that. How about if we go back to my bedroom. I've fucked both of you there now. We'll get undressed, then start fucking again. What you need to do is listen closely, right when I'm about to come. If I say your name while I'm coming, instead of Anita's, that should tell you something. But, if I say her name, I think we'll both know that I'm not over her yet."

"That isn't a fair test. You'd say my name, because now you know I'd be listening to you."

"Tell me what your idea is then."

"My idea is for us to let things cool off for a few weeks, and then we'll talk again, like today. Maybe we'll know better how we both feel by then."

"A very reasonable plan, but I think I like my plan a lot better. It saves time, and allows me to get another chance to make love with you. I already know that I'm crazy about you, so why should I have to suffer while you figure out a way to find out what I already know?"

"Now you're playing with my emotions, by telling me you're crazy about me. That wasn't fair, doing that."

"Before, you asked me not to beg you, so I won't. I'll just tell you that I'm already sure that I want to spend a lot more time with you, and that includes the two of us having more sex together. I'm patient though, so you go ahead and take whatever time you need to decide what you want."

"Suppose, while I'm trying to decide about things, I get horny for a guy? What am I supposed to do then?"

"I know what I'd want you to do, and that's come to me, so I could help you with it. If you don't want to do that, I happen to know that Rob went down to the VA hospital, the one off the 215 freeway, South of San Bernardino, and had them fit him with one of those new sport knee braces, so he could go ahead and put some weight on the knee without it hurting too much."

"He never did that!"

"Yes he did. Ask Theresa. He's been practicing using the new brace with her. He told me it works great."

"If you're telling me the truth about that, it makes me feel bad. He isn't really expecting me to do anything with him, is he?"

"Expecting? No. Hoping, fantasizing, maybe even dreaming? I'm pretty sure he is."

"That makes me feel sorry for teasing him then. Not sorry enough to sleep with him though. You weren't seriously thinking I would, with him, right?"

"All this talking is making me sleepy. I think I'm going back up to take a little nap. You want to come with me and watch me as I sleep? You told me the last time that you enjoyed it."

"Maybe I will come up and watch you. This time I might get undressed and touch myself too, just like I did the last time."

"I'm all right with you touching yourself, as long as you aren't thinking about Rob while you're do it."

Three days later, after the two of us had gone through a series of very involved discussions about Tina being able to continue her regular habits involving the exchange of what she called "Tune Up's" with a few of her female cousins, and, very occasionally, with Anita, we decided the time was right for Tina to move all her things into my room.

Tina used "Tune Up" as a euphemism for girl on girl sex. According to her, all the cousins had been helping each other out that way for as long as she could remember. It was fun, free, kept all the cousins close to each other, and it had always been a big help in managing the number of fights and flare ups, by keeping all the temper tantrums, usually associated with too many people living in too small an area, to a minimum. Tina said she thought it would be a separate, but necessary, component for her present and future happiness.

Like most guys, the thought of girl on girl sex was a big turn on for me. When I mentioned this, in passing, to Tina, she quickly burst any bubble that might have been forming in my head. "Tune Up's" were strictly for girls. No men were allowed anywhere around them during any of these sessions. Tina wouldn't agree to her moving in with me until I finally said it was okay with me if she continued the practice with her cousins, and with Anita.

She told me, as she put the last of her clothes in the closet, that she felt like she'd finally achieved an important milestone in her life. She said her someday being with me had been a dream in her head for the past four years. When I tried kidding her about how it was more my very big bedroom itself that she had coveted, she offered to move back down to her old room in the trailer, just as long as I moved in there with her. I wasn't convinced she was sincere in making that offer, but I certainly didn't care to test her to discover if her willingness was real or feigned.

Tina took to accompanying me during the day, for at least a few hours. She didn't do that much physical work, but she would run errands for me, in case I needed to find someone and let them see something wrong that I'd just found. I enjoyed her company, and she seemed to enjoy mine.

One or two nights a week, Tina would go on what she called a sleep over in one of the rooms some of her cousins occupied in the trailers. When she gossiped with me about those times later, she'd say things like: "Guess what Emay told me last night while we were tuning each other up?" These occasions never failed to cause me to conjure up prurient visual images of Tina and whatever girls she had just mentioned. Never once did she bring up Anita's name in that manner, and for this I was grateful.

She was also spending a lot more time in the kitchen, with her aunt, learning how to prepare the various meals she knew were my favorites. At least three times a week, Maria would point out one or more dishes that she informed me had been prepared, from scratch, by Tina. The food she supposedly prepared always tasted just as good as it usually did, so I was quite pleased to see her taking such an interest in cooking.

The day that Rob announced that he and Theresa had gotten engaged was a huge shocker. It came right out of nowhere. One day the two of them are supposedly merely "fuck buddies", and the next, they are planning to run off to Las Vegas to be married.

"Are you pregnant, Theresa?"

That was my first thought, and I'd put it into words before I even realized I was doing so.

"What business is it of yours if I am? I know you don't like me. Your brother does though, and he wants to marry me." I looked at Rob. He wasn't looking very happy about his impending nuptials.

"Is she?" I looked directly at him when I asked.

He nodded that she was, then spoke the words aloud.

"Doctor says two months."

"Are you sure the child will be yours?"

"What are you implying, Kyle? Are you saying I cheated on Rob?"

"Shut up, Theresa. I'm talking to my brother. Rob, you shouldn't marry her, not unless you're positive this baby is really yours. Even then, there's nothing that says you have to marry her. You can take care of the baby, financially at least, but you don't have to marry her, especially if you don't want to."

"I know Kyle. I told her I would though. It was part of the deal we made. She promised me that the kid has to be mine. Said there hasn't been anyone else, not for a long time."

"Make her sign papers then. I don't want to have to deal with her trying to get part of the farm if this marriage doesn't work out. If she won't sign, agreeing to that, I'm going to insist on enforcing our original agreement, before you get married."

"What agreement, what papers? What is he saying, Rob?" Theresa's whole being was suddenly on alert. She seemed to go from intense anger to worried and fearful, in the blink of an eye.

"I sold my half of the farm to Kyle some years ago, Theresa. We just never got around to filling out all the paperwork to formalize it. He owns this farm, and I just live here. I thought you already knew that?" Rob was exaggerating about where we now stood in that agreement, but, strictly speaking, he wasn't actually lying to her.

"You mean he could kick us off the farm if he ever decided he wanted to?"

"I suppose he could, but why would he want to? He's my brother, Theresa. He's right too, you either have to sign some papers, renouncing any future claims to the farm, or else I'll sign all those other papers, giving everything to him anyway. I thought you said you wanted to marry me? You never said anything about wanting to own part of the farm too."

"If Kyle owns the farm, what do you have?"

"I have the money I make selling real estate, and some other money that Kyle still owes me, from back when I first sold him my half of the farm. He has paid me some of it whenever I've needed it. Why are you so concerned with my finances all of a sudden?"

"If I'm marrying you, don't I have a right to know what we'll have for us to live on?"

"Well, I just told you. You need to let Kyle know which way he has to go, before the wedding. It might be better if you just sign the pre nup about the farm not being an asset of our marriage. That would be a lot less expensive for Kyle, and less trouble for us too. If we do it the other way, there would be taxes we'd need to pay, whenever the new deed gets recorded."

"I don't see why I should have to sign anything. You already promised to marry me, so let's just do that, and let Kyle do whatever he wants to."

"Take your time then, but I'm not marrying you until after we get this all settled. If you take too long deciding, something might happen to change my mind about this wedding."

"Like what?"

"Like the kid being born and looking like that other guy you used to go with. It could even look like the one before that, the married guy with all those kids. I'm expecting a kid that has lighter hair than yours. That's what you've been saying I should expect, so I do."

"There's a simple test you can take, once the child is born. Either the baby's DNA is a match for yours, or it isn't. No way to fool the test. No matter what she says, or even what you believe, you should get the baby tested, so you know for sure."

I could see that Rob had Theresa on the defensive, and I wanted to encourage whatever doubts she might already be having. Rob might believe she'd stopped seeing her other male friends, but I didn't believe anything of the kind. Theresa had been driving into town quite a lot, always right after Rob left for work. She certainly wasn't selling any houses, so I'd been wondering what she was doing with all her time. With her history, and the fact that she had been disappearing for three to five hours at a time, most work day mornings, I was definitely suspicious.

Later, after supper, Rob and I went outside, to talk without Theresa being around to listen in on our conversation.

"What the hell happened, Rob? You told me you were always very careful."

"I usually am. I fell asleep, right after we finished one night. I guess the rubber stayed in her all night. We both didn't notice. She isn't lying about being pregnant. I was right with her when the doctor gave us the test results. He said she was about two months along, which would put it right about that time I was telling you about."

"You might want to ask her where she goes whenever she leaves the farm most mornings. She leaves here about an hour after you do, and usually comes back around two or two thirty. Four or five days a week this is happening."

"Not really that much out here to keep her interest. She probably goes into town and visits with her friends, and with whatever family she still has that isn't already living out here with us. She was the one who came to me and told me she was done with that other guy. I never asked her to stop, she just did it on her own."

We had a real standoff, with Theresa insisting she wasn't signing any papers, or giving anything away. It turned out not to matter though, because Rob went out and hired a private detective to find out what she was up to when she went off into town so much. It turned out that she had gone back to seeing the guy who had the wife and three kids back down in Old Mexico. He apparently had himself a new job, working at a fast food place, where he worked the afternoon late shift.

I wasn't around when Rob confronted her with his evidence, but from what I later heard, it had been a very tense situation. After it was all over, Theresa left to go live in Lupe's trailer, and Rob later ended up having to explain to both Lupe and Maria exactly why he had strong reasons for questioning whether or not he was the true father of Theresa's baby. As you might imagine. Lupe and Maria were none too pleased with Rob, or with the idea that he had hired anyone to spy on her.

I later spoke with Lupe and told him that Rob had promised to support Theresa's baby, if the DNA tests showed it was reasonably possible for him to be the child's natural father. I also told him that I was fairly certain that Theresa was already pretty sure that Rob wasn't the father. After that conversation, Lupe and I had a period where our own relationship with each other was strained. He didn't quit, but I knew he wished he was in a position to be able to afford to do so. I felt bad about the situation, but supported Rob's decision to wait to see if he was Theresa's baby's father or not.

After her son was born, Theresa tried to prevent Rob from having the baby tested. Rob took it to court, because she'd put his name down as the father at the hospital, and she was ordered to submit the baby for DNA testing. The tests showed, to a 99.67% certainty, that Rob wasn't the biological father of her child.

Lupe and Maria had been embarrassed by the test results, and both apologized to Rob for some of the things they had said to him, in the heat of the moment. Rob avoided Theresa and her child. I thought the little kid was cute, and I started playing with him, once he was old enough to be allowed to come outside for some sun. Ricardo was a great kid, and reminded me a bit of Lupe, in his facial appearance.

As kids have a way of doing, Ricardo managed to win his grandparent's affection immediately. Soon thereafter, Theresa was out from under the shadow of the deep parental anger she'd been forced to bear from the time the final test results had come back from the lab.

It was coming up on time for the big harvest, our second "on/on" harvest since the trees had gone into synchronized alternate good and bad harvests. Everything looked good by early July. We expected a late harvest, and from the looks of things, it would be every bit as abundant as the first "on/on" harvest had been. Lupe was going out checking the trees several times a day, always coming back to assure me there was nothing to be concerned about. I could tell he was more worried than I was.

By August, Lupe and I were both starting to worry. No matter how heavily we seemed to water the ground, the long stretch of days where the temperature rose up to the high hundred and teens, was taking its toll on the moisture in the soil. Our evaporation rate was at least twice what we'd normally expect for that time of the year.

The farm owned twelve of the sprinkler rollers by then, and we set all of them up at their highest possible elevation, setting them to a very fine spray mist which we ran for ten minutes out of every hour. This was more to cool down the air temperature right above the top of the trees, than for any other reason. The heat was turning the mist to vapor, before most of it even reached the ground. There was a fine misting on the outer leaves before it evaporated off, and we were hoping this would prevent the crop from being too damaged prior to harvest. I wished, at the time that I'd bought another twenty of the sprinkler rollers back when I'd had a chance to get them so cheaply.

By the time the trees were ready to be harvested, we knew our efforts had at least helped us save some portion of the crop, but we wouldn't know, until the crop was actually hulled, how the nuts encased therein had fared. It turned out worse than we had been hoping, but better than we'd feared. We lost a bit more than half the crop, and there was a much lower percentage of top quality nuts, no more than ten percent of the total harvest. We were getting reports that our results were significantly better than those of some other small growers in the valley. To the North of us, many farmers had given up, just turning that year's crop into fertilizer for the following year.