Chapter 19: Surprises

Chris, George, Cathy, Vicky, Brittany, Grace, Kim and I went down to the county courthouse to process adoption papers for the two older girls. My attorney, Bruce Sutherland, met us there with all the paperwork filled out. It was a simple procedure since it involved a natural parent and step-parent situation in both cases.

We appeared before the judge in family court and everything went smoothly and, for the first time in my life, I then had a daughter. It would be interesting to see if and when she calls me Daddy. I kind of like the sound of that name: daddy. The judge called Cathy and me up before the bench. He had heard about our farmhouse rescue of those girls and wanted to shake our hands and thank us personally. I told the judge that we had only done what needed to be done. He then informed us that he had set on the bench at county court and the lone surviving criminal made a plea deal but still ended up sentenced to ten years for each girl involved. He said the guy would not be eligible for parole for another eighty years. Then the judge added, "If he lives that long."

In celebration of our new titles, George and I took all the ladies out for lunch at a nice restaurant. After lunch we swung by the school office to get all of our girls registered and change some names on the records. At the same time we picked up their class assignments since it was less than a week until they all would be starting school.

At the school bookstore we dumped a ton of money for Kim and Cathy's books for their classes. I hadn't paid too much attention to their class choices so I was surprised to see that both girls had signed up for photography classes. Helping them with their homework should be an exciting experience. Here I was a dad for less than a day and I was looking forward to homework. Time sure flies.

On the trip home Grace and I were singing, "School days, school days, dear old golden rule days..." When we got home I found out that Cathy was going to have a birthday on October 15^th. I asked Chris if Grace and I could help give her a birthday to remember. She and George were all for it so Chris and Cathy got busy planning. I got to wondering if Cathy would want the same present Kim got the day after her birthday. I didn't know but I was sure she would want what Kim got the day before her birthday. I had seen her looking wistfully at Kim's filly and even got to ride it a few times.

The first day of school was pure pandemonium at my Camelot. Girls were running around in their pretty new outfits gathering up their books, supplies and backpacks. The house heaved a big sigh of relief as four girls took their chaos out to the front gate to wait for the bus. Of course they all had to get kisses as they went out the door. Some of the kisses I got were getting pretty steamy as they tried to outdo each other. Believe it or not one of the hottest was from little twelve-year-old Vicky.

I don't know where that girl got the idea that jumping on me and giving me a tongue kiss was appropriate at her age. Well, I have to admit that I wasn't complaining, but instead enjoyed the kiss. She was fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. As if my life were not complicated enough as it was, I feared having to deal with a twelve-year-old with a crush. Good grief, the torture a guy has to go through.

I had a chat with Chris and George about Cathy. I told them that since she would be fifteen I felt she was old enough to have a horse of her own. They agreed so I made arrangements with a friend of mine to have her come by and pick out the horse for her to have. We had plenty of stalls in the barn so space would not be a problem. I told them that I wanted to reward George for all of his hard work for me by letting him and Chris pick out horses for themselves, also. George tried to balk but I was adamant. I told him if they didn't pick out their horses I would. In any event there would be three more horses added to our herd.

The girls got home from their first day of school still excited and bubbling over with enthusiasm. They were all talking at once.

"I met Mr. Thornton who is super nice."

"My math teacher is a hunk."

"My teacher, Mrs. Wilcox, said she likes me."

"There are tons of cute boys there."

And so it went as they told us all about their first day. Kim and Cathy told me that their photography teacher is real nice, wants to meet me and look at some of my work. I told them that they could take a couple of my albums to show him and see what he thinks. Kim corrected me with "It's not a 'him'; it's a 'her'." Intriguing. I had put together my architecture series and nature studies that I thought she would like.

I held back on them taking any of my body studies to school for a good reason. Kim gave Cathy a wink and went up to her room. Cathy asked if she could see the albums.

I said, "Sure, no problem. I have them in my den and I can bring them out for you to look at."

"No, you don't have to go to all that trouble. We can look at them in there."

She took my hand and led me to the den. As we went in she closed the door and I think I heard the lock click. I thought to myself, "Uh-oh. Here we go again."

I got the nature album out and opened it on my desk. I took a seat in my chair and Cathy snuggled up to my side as she had done before. She put her arm around my shoulders and pulled me in tight. I put my arm around her resting my hand about mid-thigh on the outside of her dress. We looked at several pictures as I slowly caressed her leg through the dress. After about two minutes of that, she reached down and lifted her dress so my hand was on her bare thigh. I continued my caresses and she quietly moaned her pleasure as she leaned her head on my shoulder and gave me little kisses on my neck.