Chapter 52

I spent Friday in the office and was bored to tears by noon. Sharon had worked with Wanda a little to get an idea of how she could assist her. Wanda said "Why don't you two go home," when it was time to consider lunch. They always have a decent lunch on the patio."

Sharon looked eager to leave, so I told Wanda, "I need to go down to Costa Rica for a couple of days. You know where I'll be If I'm needed. I'll try to be back in a couple of days, but I do have some traveling to do. I need to go up to Friday Harbor to check on that property. I somehow think that I should go up there and check it out."

Steve and Tiny were sitting at the bar drinking coffee when I walked into the patio. I poured myself a cup from the fancy coffeemaker. Steve said, "Mercy tells me you are going to Costa Rica. Were you going to tell me or let me find out after you had taken off," when I sat down?

I laughed and told Steve, "Tell you what. I need to go down there and visit. We need to check on Diego and the resort, see how Mark and his kids are doing, and check out our businesses in the old 3M building. I'm for packing up and going tonight or tomorrow, but the kids have motocross and guitar lessons tomorrow."

Steve thought about it a minute before saying, "I can't stay down there for long. I'll need to be back here on Wednesday for a project we're both working on. You go down tonight, and my family will come down tomorrow night. We'll play Sunday and visit the business Monday and Tuesday, and come back Tuesday night. You can stay longer if you want, but I'd bet you still want to see the island up next to Friday Harbor."

After thinking about it for a minute, I told Steve, "We've been on the run too much lately, and I think I'll just hang out here unless something changes. I need to visit the Seattle office, so I'll take Wanda with me to go do that, and then go out to the island to make sure all is well. The men there aren't spending a lot of money according to bookkeeping, and I know they should be using a lot of paint and wood stain. I should only be gone a couple of days and be back to take everyone with me to Costa Rica for a week. That will make your kids miss a motocross practice and a music lesson, but it would be nice for us to be down there for the weekend."

That was the plan, and it would also give the women time to get some clothes put together. We had been gone so much that the women were wearing the same clothes all the time and the kids were outgrowing theirs.

I gathered my women together and told them what I planned and why. I could see the disappointment in Lisa's eyes because she had to be left at home while Wanda and Sharon flew to Seattle with me. I figured I could get a float plane to take us to the island so we could spend a night there.

Brandy said, "You know we could be out of here in an hour or so if we wanted to go to Costa Rica this weekend. I'd love to help Mina fix one her wonderful breakfasts." She paused a second, then said, "You can come back Tuesday night and fly to Seattle Wednesday through Friday. That would work out."

Now I was confused because Brandy was the one who represented and spoke for the women of the house. I went back to Steve who was sitting next to Mercy. He greeted me with, "Mercy says your women are ready to go now. I guess we'll do the split travel. I'll come down late tomorrow afternoon. I only need a smaller plane. Can I take your Citation?"

"Sure, if your family fits in it, but I think you're going to have to take a G5 or 550."

Steve agreed and said, "Get while you can if you're going."

I made the suggestion that he should call and tell Dewey what we were up to. He probably wouldn't come, but we would have at least told him.

I went to the ladies and said, "Okay, we'll go down now. Lisa and I can fly, so we won't have to worry about pilots. Call about the 737, Brandy, and you call Mina to make sure it's all right that we come this afternoon, Julie."

Brandy told me our 737 would be serviced and ready. She said, "You know you are taking two valuable aircraft out of service for the families' use. You're going to have to figure out how to make sure the charter service has enough aircraft."

"Not to worry, Brandy. Tiny will be on the phone leasing another aircraft if they really get short. Order us a bus to get out to the airport. I'm thinking we may have to buy one and keep it here for our use."

Brandy said, "We don't need to. The bus company is just down the road and always has an extra bus and driver for us. This makes it easier."

I went in to pack my clothes, but Taiying and Sing had already done it. Etta observed that I had women all over the place, and that they all delighted in doing things for me and everyone else in the household. The pregnant women all appeared to be a little plump, when I looked at them, which was probably good. Seeing Lisa with her growing baby bump made me smile. Brandy was ready to go and was talking on the phone. She turned to me and asked, "Can Cassie and Izzy come with us?" Brandy acted like she really wanted them to come, so I nodded 'yes'. Brandy said into the phone, "I'll send Gina over for you in a cart." There was a pause before she said, "Oh good, that's nice of you, Kathy."

We were carrying bags out to where the bus would park when Kathy came up in a cart with Cassie and a kid's seat with Izzy in it. I'm surprised that Mickey didn't want to go with us instead of waiting to go with Steve. Kathy gave me a hug and said, "We'll be down tomorrow night. Enjoy having your family by itself for a change."

Jimmy helped me do the exterior checks out at the Airpark, while the women loaded the kids. He said he had just gone through the aircraft and knew it to be in good condition. "You're using this thing pretty often, so I'm trying to inspect it each time it returns. Make sure you write up any squawks so we are current with maintenance."

"Thanks, Jimmy. I know you and your men take good care of the aircraft and the families. I always feel confident when I fly our aircraft."

I went up the stairway, and then held the lever to pull the retractable stairs up. I made sure everyone was buckled up after locking the door and went toward the cockpit. Lisa was in the left seat and had the APU running and began spooling up the left engine. We went through the checklist an item at a time, and prepared for takeoff. Lisa said, "Brandy filed the flight plan from home, and you can initiate it as soon as we're off the ground. Let's boogie."

It's so funny the way this big aircraft feels after flying the smaller, more nimble, Citation. If truth be told, I still enjoyed the Lears the most. Although they were kept updated with the most modern electronics, they were still considered primitive when compared to the Citation and the 737 we were flying.

We were requesting permission to land two and half hours later. Mark's voice came over the radio, "It's about time you came down to see us. I know you've been busy, but we've all missed you."

"We'll be down in a minute. We'll need a bunch of carts to get everyone up to the house."

Mark answered by saying, "We have a very nice bus to do that now."

Mark, Caroline, his son, Gene, and his daughter-in-law, Sandy, were there to greet us. They pushed a stairway up to the plane so that I didn't have to use the aircraft's stairway. We carried the eleven little ones down and right into the waiting bus. Mark told me, "We end up having to take a bunch of pilots and crews back and forth to their hotel, that I thought a bus would be a nice touch."

Brandy, Tiani, Lisa, and Gina cleaned up in the aircraft so it would be ready for us to fly back. Gene said he would have the plane fueled and pushed into a hangar. I was ready to go up to the house after a good stretch.

It was probably after the evening meal for the island people, so I think everyone on the island was there to greet us. All the girls had favorite friends on the island, and Julie knew all of them, of course. Etta immediately became friends with Mina, and she and Lisa went into the kitchen to help Mina finish our supper.

The mothers wanted to get the little ones fed first, so they were all put in high chairs to enjoy some special chopped pieces of chicken topped with a glaze. It was sticky and messy, but what else is new with a little guy or girl at that age. With all of the little ones being at or just under eighteen months, the island women couldn't get over how well the kids spoke instead of jabbering gibberish. Most of their communication skills were one or two words at a time, but still effective.

The adults finally had a chance to eat, but the island people didn't leave. They stayed on the porch finding out about all our travels. We found out about new babies among the younger couples, and some plans for the coming wedding of a young island man and a young lady from the mainland. Julie promised to come for the wedding.

Mark and his family had stayed with us to talk about what he had been up to. He said that they had made several improvements on the sewage disposal units, and that the solar farms were now producing almost as much as the wind turbines. Mark said that even with the fuel availability, he was only using the generators for night operations for the airport.

Mark spoke about how the airport and crew hotel had become profit centers. Mark said, "So many of the big shots and movie stars come here in aircraft that aren't kept up very well. They're willing to pay our men to do the repairs and teardowns that never seem to get done at their home airports. We now have twelve full-time mechanics working on visiting aircraft. We've been selling enough parts and tires to keep the island people fat and happy."

Gene told me that they now had several island people who were taking flying lessons, and two who had already progressed to instrument training.

Mark told me how Diego had negotiated for and purchased four sailboat catamarans to charter out to people who wanted to go sailing for a week. They chartered them with a two person crew who were couples. The crews were trained, experienced, registered Captains, and took care of the mechanics of sailing, cooking, and cleaning. The guests only had to enjoy the sun and nights on the water. Mark said that the boats were being chartered regularly so far.

Gene observed, "Heck, it's almost cheaper to be in the resort than on one of those boats. The weekly price for a crewed charter is almost thievery, but then again, people who come down here know how to spend money."

Gene's and Sandy's kids asked if Steve and his kids were coming. They were very excited when I told them they would be here tomorrow. Sandy made the comment that they were going to have to come up soon for the kids' testing. She thought they were far ahead of the normal grade level, but they still had to be tested to find their actual level. Gene said they would fly the King Air up when they came unless there was a charter that came down. I was surprised to hear that CS&S was chartering flights to the resort from various places in the States. I wondered if it was part of a package for movie stars or entertainers who didn't have their own airplane.

The island people finally left for their homes when it was after ten and all the little ones had been put to bed. Mina was still glowing from having us come to visit. We cleaned up the porch, washed the tables down, and said goodnight. The huge new bed Brandy had built was beginning to be tight with the addition of the four condo girls who were there, along with Betty from the boat.

I made love to the condo girls and Betty, along with the excited Julie, before ending with Lisa. We were cuddling when Lisa said, "Aren't you going to make love to your new woman?"

Leaning down, I bit her on the nipple hard enough to make her squeal. I whispered in her ear, "No more women."

I heard Etta saying in my head, "You don't have a choice on this one. She's yours whether or not you ever make love to her."

Rolling to sit up, I looked over the bed to discover the mixed Indian and African American beauty looking at me with pleading eyes. She is beautiful, but there already are so many. Lisa pulled me down to her and softly said, "Kiss her goodnight. Everything else will come naturally."

I leaned over the other women and kissed Cassie's expectant face. She wanted to rise and follow me, but I held her down and softly said, "Goodnight, Cassie."

Snuggled back under the covers with Lisa's belly against my back, I lay there worried about all these women. The original five were perfect for me. They were all loving and attentive. Then their first choices of the two Oriental sisters were a fun addition. I'm still not clear on how they met them and brought them into our house to help the ladies with the house and their babies. I knew about Maria, but didn't realize she wanted to go under me to be bred the same as the Fickle Five. Lisa became more than a friend and soon was a central part of the women I love. Julie then came along. She is an amazing woman. Gina was a surprise, of course, who gave me two growing children and a baby too. Etta then presented herself as someone more than just my aunt. She wanted to be a lover, and for Marion and Virginia to become my children. Jane then wiggled her way into our lives. I'm so lucky, but still scared about having more women. I had reached the limit of my ability to make love to them all most nights. I tried to eat right and get enough exercise so I could continue to enjoy all their affection. The women were thinking that Sharon was going to be another woman in their midst. They were also thinking Cassie should be a part of them. They made their case with the way Izzy took to me, but all the kids loved for me to give them attention. The boys wanted to be rough and tumble with me, while the little girls wanted some of that but also wanted to be hugged more. I fell asleep while thinking of it all.

Lips were kissing me as my eyes opened. Cassie was kneeling on the floor totally naked. But then, that's how the women all slept anyway.

Cassie kissed me and said, "Could you move back a little so I can feel you holding me?"

Lisa kissed me on the back of my neck and moved back to give me room to let Cassie slide in front of me. She was face to face with me at first and gave me a couple of very gentle and nice kisses. She said, "You are so gentle. My people weren't always very gentle with me. The man who gave me Izzy was very rough, but I was infatuated with him. I was sad when another man in the tribe killed him for taking his woman. He should have asked instead of taking."

The smallish woman turned her back and snuggled up to me. She lifted her leg, pulled my limp noodle between her legs, and closed them. She took my hand, covered her breast with it, and contentedly sighed.

I had to lay there and think about this once again. My family was becoming ridiculously large, but no one seemed to think it was out of the ordinary. Even my original five, who should have been jealous, didn't want to say anything to me about Cassie. Everyone seemed to be encouraging me to take her in. I have always had a high degree of self-confidence, but I was scared now confronted with the prospect of another woman depending on me, scared that I couldn't do everything a man should for his partner, wife, or sister/wife.

Etta's voice came into my head, "Everything and everyone will make it happen if it's meant to be, Chuck. Your women love you more than you know, so listen to them. We will let you know."

I woke in sort of a stupor. I knew it was still early, but I also needed the bathroom and to get up and move around. I pushed up, moved over Cassie to get out of bed, and put my peg on. I also put shorts and a T-shirt on. I was naked again within minutes and in the shower after a shave and toothbrush. Back in shorts and a T-shirt, I went downstairs to make some coffee.

No need to; Mina had coffee made and poured me a cup of the rich strong coffee the island people enjoyed. Mina gave me a hug and held me for a few seconds longer than normal. She went back to being busy while making some kind of breakfast roll. I tried to help her a couple times, but she shooed me away from the huge stove. Mina said, "You are the patrón. You give us life and you give us babies when we need them. One of your boat women who married an island boy isn't pregnant. She says she would be pregnant if you would help her. Her man would never know, but she thinks he may have a problem. Can you take her upstairs and help her while we occupy her man? Some of the island women think he is very handsome and want to tempt him. Let them satisfy their urge while you give the young woman the baby she wants."

Wow, that is an amazing request. Lisa came down the stairs with a worried look on her face. She asked, "Did you do anything with Cassie last night?"

I shook my head and told her, "I only held her before we went to sleep. No sex."

Lisa said, "That woman has the most serene look on her face as if she was well done last night and slept in the juices. Are you sure?"

"Positive, Lisa. I told you that I didn't want another woman. Maybe she's having fantasy dreams playing with herself. I didn't mess with her. She tucked me between her legs and put my hand over her breast. We weren't like that this morning because I was hugging your back."

Lisa came over to sit on my lap while I had more of Mina's wonderful coffee. Lisa told me, "You've kept Sharon to be your backup the way I wanted, but Cassie might be perfect for our family. Look at who you already have with Tiani and Nancy, Taiying and Sing, Maria, Gina and Jane, of course. You know you could have any or all of the condo girls, and you could have had all the boat girls. Cassie is so sweet and loving to everyone, and she was gorgeous at the nude beach. I'd like to get to know her better too, but I've talked to all our girls and told them to hold off because you were in your 'no more women' mode."

"Lisa, my love, we can't keep gathering women no matter how beautiful and sweet they are. There are five more women who want to be loved when we're visiting down here, and I know you were in my head when Mina was just talking to me."

"Isn't that something? You could give your boat girls babies, or at least one anyway."

Mina said, "I think you already have one of your boat girls with your baby. One of them who wanted to be made love to before she was married, either has your baby or conceived on her wedding night. I think you already have a baby among us."

"How do you know this, Mina?"

"All of us women talk about things like that. The ones who have not experienced you all want to hear the story of how you make love over and over. The girls from the condo say you are the most loving man around and that you have taken them along with all of your other women many times. They think you must be some kind of super man to be able to do that."

Lisa didn't help by saying, "He is a super man or super stud, Mina. Look what he did to me. He gave me four. He's already given Frieda two, and Jane now has two inside her. Chuck can do the job for the little girl who wants a baby."

Etta and Julie came down to the kitchen and both gave me kisses. Etta said, "I didn't hear or feel you make love to Cassie, but you almost must have by the way she's smiling in her sleep. She needs to be a part of our family."

"I didn't do anything with Cassie. She might just be happy that I didn't kick her out of bed."

Etta and Julie each poured themselves some coffee and refilled my mug. Etta said with a smirk, "Are you going to fix up that little girl who wants a baby? I heard what Mina said about you might already have a baby here. I'll know if I get to hold it. No one else ever needs to know, but I will."

Mina said, "You need to tell me if you can do that, so I know too. The other women on the island want to know. Chuck has been a wonderful man to us all, and we would all enjoy experiencing him. Julie tells of how gentle and loving he is, and how he overpowers her with happy feelings time after time."

I told Lisa, "Get up, Babe; I need to go outside to get away from this." As I stood, I said, "You women talk too much. Your men will find out by the way you talk, and some may get angry."

Mina was smiling when she said, "Our men are so well taken care of that they would never complain. They all experience someone else from time to time. It's okay because we're all family."

Etta was inside my head laughing as I walked out the door to the porch. Miguel was sitting at a table with his coffee, and pointed at a chair next to his. He leaned close to me and said, "Chuck, Patrón, the men of the island know our women talk, and we often hear what they speak of. They believe we don't know if we never bring it up, and that is better. Mina told you that the men often enjoy someone other than their own, and most of us know it is arranged because it is so easy and we are teased to be strong men for the fun. Let them have their private talks and let them believe they are keeping everything to themselves. We teach our young men from early in their lives to not let the women know that we hear or see what they speak of."

Instead of continuing that line of discussion, I asked Miguel, "So how is the farming coming? Are you able to supply most of the vegetables and meat to the resort and to you here on the island?"

"Oh yes, Chuck. We are even harvesting enough to trade on market day like today with the ground we use on both of the other islands. Mainland people are very envious of what we have. Our life here is good. We have a lot of people who live here now, in addition to the people who come in on the airplanes, but they stay near the airport and hotel. We tell anyone we see wandering where they shouldn't to watch out for the dangerous wild animals. They must believe us because they go back to the hotel."

Mark and Caroline rode up in a cart to say good morning and join us for breakfast. Little guys were soon coming out to the porch to say good morning. They all came to me one and two at a time to be picked up and hugged. Little Izzy came to me with Juanita, and both held their arms up. I asked them both how they were this morning and Juanita said 'Good'. When I asked if they were ready for breakfast, Juanita immediately said 'Hungry', followed by 'Breakfast'.

Izzy was trying to repeat what Juanita was saying. Cassie came over and asked, "How do Juanita and the others know so many words and what they mean?"

I told her, "You're a teacher. Watch how Beth and Missy work with the kids. Frieda, Judy, and Nancy are doing that now too. The kids learn fast."

Cassie leaned down and whispered in my ear, "You didn't give me everything I wanted, but you did give me a wonderful night's sleep. Thank you." She kissed me on the cheek before scooping Izzy up to feed her.

Most of the mothers were still breastfeeding their little ones and were scattered around the porch feeding them. Mark said, "That's the most pleasant view. I love to watch a mother nursing her baby, or a young child in this case. I know Steve's kids were nursed until they were almost three, and they are the best behaved group of kids you'll ever find. I'm sure it is the love and the direction the kids get from all the fathers at the park."

I told Mark, "I sure hope I can say that about mine in ten to twelve years. That's the one thing that worries me about having so many kids. Are we going to be able to handle them? Will they be good kids and young adults? It's too much to worry about."

Mark said, "Gene was a good kid, although he lost his mother when he was young. I did my best to help him grow into a good young man, and I think I succeeded. He and Sandy are now doing that with their children."

"It all goes around, doesn't it, Mark? The kids here on the island all seem to be respectful and in good humor. They do their chores and help in the fields, but still have time to play. That's what makes it so good when Steve and Dewey bring the kids down."

Mark asked, "What do you want to look at while you're here?"

"I definitely want to look at the resort and the next expansion plans you guys have. Are we making the resort too big? It needs to remain relatively small if we want to keep it exclusive."

Mark said, "Let Diego tell you why we should add the new suites. I think what he's doing is going to add an even more exclusive group of suites. Although the new building will be even bigger than the first addition, it will not have that many suites. The way he wants to arrange it will give the people in those suites a private beach that the other people at the resort can't access. Like I said, let Diego tell you about it."

Breakfast was wonderful as always. Mina had a lot of help with the other women willing to help her. She was standing by the front table watching as everyone was eating. The little people were still in their highchairs having pieces of banana and coconut. Mark pointed out, "See those pineapples? Those are from plants we imported from Hawaii that we've planted here, and we now have a big pineapple field. We've shipped some banana trees over there for them to plant. I hope they grow well there."

Mark's radio began making noise. "Chuck's friends are on final, Mark. Do you want to greet them or just ship them up by bus?"

I looked up, and then checked my watch. It was only eight o'clock so Steve must have left the Airpark by five or shortly thereafter. I said, "Let's go welcome them. Steve can't stand it if I go somewhere without him. I didn't think they would come until after lunch. I guess the motocross fun was postponed."

Mark and I rode down to the airport operations building and watched a 737 land. I was looking for a G550 but none was on final. The 737 pulled up to the operations building and turned around. Mark and I pushed the portable stairway to the aircraft door. Kids began running down the stairs and gathering together when the door opened.

Uh oh, I saw Dewey's kids mixed in with Steve's, as well as some of the kids from the park whose parents were our riding buddies there.

Steve finally made his appearance with Sue and Mercy following. Next were Mickey carrying Sue Ellen, Juanita, Giovanna carrying Stephano, and Kathy. Dewey and his group began coming down the steps, and then a surprise was Bear and Crystal. Oh my, Charlie, with his crazy wife, Shawna, came down along with her partner in crime Debbie and Hank. Last out were Jim and Hanna."

"What are you doing here, Dewey?"

"That's easy enough to answer. I have to meet the Amsterdam investors, and I told them to meet me here. You need to be in on this too. The only thing I could get real quick was this beauty, so I brought it. This belongs to the golf tours, and I found out Bear and Crystal had come for a couple of days. I called Steve and told him we were coming and he invited some more to come. Not to worry, I have suites and rooms reserved for all of us. Steve may stay here, but I have all the owners' suites blocked off. They usually keep those for people who come without reservations. They get more for them too."

Steve said, "We came early because it's raining at home and the kids didn't want to ride in the rain. We got up early, met Dewey at the Airpark, and here we are."

"Okay, let's go up to the house first so that Mina can meet everyone. The kids were in a bunch waiting to be directed. Steve hollered, "Go for it if you want to run up to the house instead of riding the bus. Watch out for those who haven't been here before."

Bear said, "You have one hell of an airport here. I can't wait to see the resort."

Mark and I followed the bus up to the house. Word had spread and several of the island people had come out to meet the new people from Florida and Hawaii.

Introductions took a long time because I had to really try hard to remember everyone's name from the island. Julie stayed with me and gave me a little help from time to time. Dewey had disappeared and reappeared with a huge pitcher of his favorite morning drink. Steve said, "Dewey's airplane didn't have enough mix, so we only had enough for one round and everyone wanted one. He'll catch up now."

Mina produced several huge platters of what looked like cupcakes without the paper wrappers. She said they were special as they had island fruit in them. The kids were making it up the hill by this time, and were greeted by the mass of island kids their age. There probably was close to fifty kids having a good time, now trying to learn each other's name. The island kids were speaking their fairly good English and the kids from Florida were using their Spanish. They were having fun, and Mina brought out a huge basket of the little cakes just for the kids."

Shawna wanted to know, "Where are the kids going to be if Charlie and I stay at the resort?" Debbie and Hanna came over to find out the same answer.

Julie said, "The kids can all sleep in their big playroom. They are going to want to be on this island to play with the other kids. You adults can stay at the resort so the women can get pampered."

Dewey said, "I want to stay at the resort to evaluate the service this time. It won't be a fair evaluation because they'll know I'm a part of the ownership group. I'll get an idea anyway. I can also meet with the Amsterdam investors and get that accomplished."