Chapter 16

January of 2033 was a very stormy month, and cities and towns across the nation were brought to a standstill by the snow storms and bitter cold. There were missed and delayed deliveries all across the country, and we were no exception in Statesboro. We used some of the reserve material in the warehouse to make up for the delayed deliveries and continued printing. We would replace them later when deliveries caught up.

Statesboro normally gets little snow, but we got our share this year along with everyone else. Even the college was closed for several days during the worst of the storms. None of our regular employees had to miss work though, thanks to the portals, and the electricity was only out for one night. It didn't bother us, but we did check on Mrs. O'Neill several times during the height of the storms out west. We took her some of our canned food when she couldn't get out because of the storms.

We managed to get in a lot of studying during January because of the storms. February was a better month, but still cold for Statesboro. There wouldn't be any early planting this year.

In late January we went to Grandmother Kent's house to set up wards there and at Uncle Dan's house. We tied the wards of the two houses together so that Uncle Dan could activate both of them together as Grandmother Kent showed no Talent. Uncle Dan's Talent was strong enough to handle activating the wards when needed.

In early February another courier arrived with checks totaling sixty million dollars. He seemed to think it was a lot warmer here than it was currently in New York. We didn't disagree.

Tuesday, the 8th of February, we made another trip to Nassau. It was very pleasant there, and we enjoyed ourselves and stayed for most of the day. The bankers were delighted with our parents' checks. Our parents now had something over one hundred and five million dollars in the banks there, and they always received the red carpet treatment. We would now call the account executive at each bank that they dealt with when we arrived to alert them that we would be visiting them. We were all sad when it was time to return home to the cold weather.

Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year and Annie and Sara were sixteen years old. That very day we began lobbying our parents to allow us to get married, and we started at breakfast.

"Mother, we are all sixteen now," I started.

"Yes dear. We're aware of that," Mother Katie answered.

"We ... ah... !" I paused not sure how to proceed.

"We would like to get married, Mother O'Connell," Annie said filling in my silence.

"Married!!?" both of our Mothers demanded in shock.

"Yes, us too!" Sara added, enthusiastically.

"All four of you!?" Mother Margie asked still in shock.

"Yes, all four of us. I guess!" Sean added.

"What do you mean - you guess?" Mother Katie demanded.

"We weren't aware that Gus and Annie were ready to get married. We thought it was our idea," Sara told her.

"You're all still too young!" Mother Margie immediately told us, defensively.

"Both of you got married when you were sixteen," I said.

"Yes still sixteen, but we were a hundred and seventy years old," Mother Katie told us. "There's a big difference."

"We don't want to wait. With the trouble coming, we won't be able to get married normally, and we want Brian to marry us now," I told them. Sean was shaking his head in agreement.

"And do you girls agree with this?" Mother Margie demanded.

"Yes, we would have married them when we were still fourteen," Sara told her.

"Fourteen!! My God!" Mother Katie exclaimed in shock.

"Yes, we have loved them since we met them," Annie told her, shyly.

"We'll have to think about this and talk to your Father about it also," Mother Margie told us, and they refused to discuss it any further. We all went to take care of our school work for the day after that.

Dad spoke to us guys that afternoon while we worked on the tractor in the stable.

"Don't you think that you're still a little young to be getting married?" he asked us out of the blue as we worked.

"No, sir!" Sean answered immediately. "There isn't anyone else in this world that we're interested in."

"And we've been living with them for nearly two years now," I pointed out.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Dad replied.

"That's almost like being married!" Sean insisted.

"You do realize that you will be married for a very long time, don't you?" Dad asked.

"Yes, we're very aware that Sorcerers can live a very long time. The people in the Otherworld have been there for thousands of years now," I admitted.

"Annie and Sara are the only ones that make us whole. That make us complete. When we're together, it's like we are one being in two separate bodies. There isn't anyone else like that in this world," Sean told him. He wasn't the one that usually made long speeches.

"You seemed to say that with some reservations," Dad pointed out. "And that's the second time that you used the phrase, 'in this world'."

"Yes, sir. That's because there may be people like us in the other Magic reality," I told him.

"Other Magic reality?" Dad asked.

"Yes, the one where Mr. O'Neill resides, the Original Reality," I told him.

"Yes, I remember that you mentioned that," Dad said. "What else do you know about it?"

"That's about all that we know. We only talked to him for a couple of minutes that one time," I told Dad.

"But it is the place that never lost its Magic. There could be a lot of people like us there. We just don't know!" Sean said in disappointment.

"Is it possible to communicate with them?" Dad asked.

"We don't know. The Eternal Flame was the one that set up that one communication and it didn't last long," Sean told him. Dad let the conversation drop then, and we just worked on the tractor, and its accessories for the rest of the afternoon.

That was the last that we heard about our request for several weeks. Things in general seemed to have quieted down for a while, but we were sure that it wouldn't stay that way for long. We studied our Magic and did our school work. There were other things that would need to be done, but it wasn't time for them yet.

February had slipped into March and the weather had improved, before our parents were ready to discuss marriage with us again.

With the better weather in February our parents had contacted the roofers, and the siding and cornice people to work on the exteriors of the two new houses. They also had the windows replaced and the exteriors painted. This took us into the middle of March because of some bad weather.

We had also started plowing the fields by the middle of March, as the weather had turned warm enough. St. Patrick's Day was on a Thursday this year and a big celebration was held by our entire family. It was on Friday the 18th of March that our wedding plans were discussed again.

"We have discussed your request very thoroughly," Mother Katie told us that morning.

"And we have considered what not allowing you to marry would mean," Mother Margie added.

"You know that we want all of you to attend college, as your Sisters and their Husbands are," Mother Katie told us next.

"We want to attend college," Sean told her, "but we are not sure that we will be able to because of the trouble that is coming. They may not be able or willing to accept us - the Government could prevent it."

"Yes, we have considered that also," Mother Margie told us. "Perhaps you could take the courses over the internet instead of being physically on campus. Many colleges are set up for that now."

"Yes, we could try that," Annie agreed.

"We want you to promise not to get pregnant until after you complete college, if you can get in," Mother Katie insisted.

"That could depend on an awful lot of things," Sara said, uncomfortably.

"We are asking this because we were pregnant while attending college - twice actually - and know just how difficult it can be. We would rather that you didn't have that problem," Mother Margie told us.

"Yes, we can understand that," Annie said, but added, "The allure of having a baby, a child of our own, is very strong. We realize that we should wait, but... !" she didn't finish.

"Yes, we understand that. When the curse was finally lifted, we couldn't wait to get pregnant," Mother Margie told us. "But attending college while pregnant is a chore you really don't need."

"And caring for a baby or babies while attending college is an even bigger chore," Mother Katie assured us.

"Emer told us that the Queen would send Fairies when we had children," I told my Mothers.

"Emer? When did you see her?" Mother Katie demanded.

"When we first took Annie and Sara to the Otherworld," Sean told her.

"Still even with Fairies helping, it's a lot of work caring for babies while attending college," Mother Margie told us.

"All right, IF we can get into a college - if we can even graduate from high school - we won't get pregnant while we are attending it by whatever means we manage to get in," Annie agreed.

"All right," Dad said, finally speaking up. "In that case we will give you permission to get married, but not until after Easter."

"Oh yes! We can wait until after Easter," Annie and Sara agreed with big smiles.

It was shortly after this that work on the interior of the houses was started. The electricians started in one house, and the plumbers and heating people started in the other. They switched houses when finished in one. Annie and Sara started paying much closer attention to what went on in the houses now.

They wanted to be sure that things were done in a way that they liked. They got to pick the style of sinks, commodes and tubs that were installed. They were very choosey about the shower enclosures that were installed - making sure that they were large enough. They also picked the light fixtures and ceiling fans to be installed. Later they helped select the type of cabinets and kitchen appliances that were installed.

Once the utilities were taken care of the painters and wallpaper people came in, after the hardwood floors had been sanded and refinished. There was also some plaster that needed to be repaired, but the wallpaper firm took care of that. By the middle of May, our ladies were quite satisfied with the houses.

We had turned off the wards on the house during the repair and refinishing process, but turned them back on when the interiors were finished. In late May the septic system people came in to removed the old systems and then install new ones. Finally the landscaping people repaired the lawns and planted some additional trees and shrubs.

While all of this had been going on, we had also been busy. The crops had all been planted and required tending. Annie and Sara had helped our Mothers with the herbal garden. Our Sisters also had their own herbal gardens and planted a few vegetables and some flowers at their houses. We didn't plant anything at the new houses this year, however.

By the first week of April, we knew that time was getting short. There were things that we needed to do, and it was time to start. On Sunday, the 3rd of April, we four held a strategy meeting in our study room.

"It's time that we started preparing to shift the houses," I told the others.

"Already?" Sara asked.

"Yes, thing are beginning to heat up. The Government through the FBPI has already started to hassle minor Wizards and Witches. We need to be ready to relocate our houses and business if necessary," I told them.