110: Novia

"I know you now," Miss Polly said as we walked to the post production meeting in the conference room. "It's been a couple of years—three years or more. You were the girl on the horse who first claimed Brian as your boyfriend on-air. I didn't recognize you at first."

"I got f..." I squeezed Rhonda's hand and she caught her breath before she could say 'fat.' " ... a little more mature, I guess." She looked at me and grinned.

"I'm sure there's a story, but I know Harvey has business he wants to take care of." We went into the conference room and Harvey, Miss Darlene, Jess, and a couple more people who I had worked with during my two years with the station were there. There was a cake and Carol Klein, the local barista, was fixing espresso drinks. When we walked into the room everyone applauded. A big banner at the end said 'Good luck in college, Brian!' Nobody had ever surprised me with a party quite like this. It was very moving.

In addition to the party atmosphere and listening to my current plans, Harvey pulled me aside. Rhonda came with me since I had yet to let go of her hand.

"Brian, you have a successful show. It's a shame to see it end just because you are going to college," Harvey started.

"I really don't think I can commute to record up here. We'd have to do five or six shows at a time," I said. Oh, I'd thought about it. The $250 per episode I was getting plus royalties was nice. I could buy a lot of books, food, and rent for that.

"I know. We've talked about that. And believe me, we'd never get a crew to work that long and that hard at one time. But we've syndicated your segment in addition to the syndication of the whole show. You are actually getting larger distribution this summer than you've ever had before. I think you'll be pleased with your residuals. The thing is that you need to figure out a way to keep producing the show down in Bloomington while you work on your degree. It's a bit of a gold mine right now, but stopping and trying to restart in four years would be a nightmare."

"Harvey, I have no idea how I'd get a show up and running down there," I said.

"What you would need is a producer."

"You?"

"No. I'm happy here at WBBT. And I'd be too expensive. But colleges are full of talent. Find a producer and let them worry about how it gets done. He'll get sponsors, find a studio, set up the recording schedule, and staff appropriately. Your job is to plan a show and perform. His job is to do everything else," Harvey said.

As we'd been talking, Rhonda's grip on my hand was getting tighter and tighter. Now she was pulling on me.

"I'll think about it, Harvey. Thanks for giving me the idea. I'll see what I discover in Bloomington." Rhonda was practically dragging me out the door of the conference room. Once we were in the hall I turned to her.

"Rhonda, honey. Are you all right? What's the problem?"

"I could do this, Brian!" she said. She was practically hyperventilating and her pupils were dilated. The first thing I thought was that she was having a reaction to her meds.

"Do what?"

"I could produce your show." What? "I know what you do. I'd have to learn a bunch of things, but I'd learn them. I'd find a place to film—a kitchen. I'd find out how to get a crew and cameras. I'd get sponsors. Brian, I could do this." I thought she might have a breakdown right there in the hall. "I could move to Bloomington with you. I wouldn't be a worthless tagalong."

Holy shit! I'd intended to take Rhonda with me one way or another anyway. I had her back and I wasn't going to let anything short of a nuclear strike separate us again. I had no idea, though, that she felt she'd be a worthless tagalong. My mind raced a hundred miles an hour. If this was what it took to give her a sense of self-worth and meaning—to finally pull her out of the depths of her depression—I'd do this show until hell froze over. Hell, yes!

"You are brilliant, honey. That's perfect. Let's go tell Harvey right now." Rhonda slammed her body against mine and kissed me with a ferocity that I'd seldom felt from her.

We decided not to tell anyone yet until we could start making real plans. Harvey said that he'd mentor Rhonda and invited her to shadow him on the job for a few days. It would have to wait until graduation, but we were definitely going to take him up. I'd learned a lot about the administrative side of the show when I worked as Polly's assistant. On the set of 'Young Cooking' I was the talent and had learned how to plan and prepare a show. Shadowing Harvey would teach both Rhonda and me about the executive side of the business.

Of course, everyone could see the difference in Rhonda almost as soon as we got home. They all wanted to know what had the two of us so happy. I finally got the videotape Harvey gave me of the segment we'd just recorded. It didn't have all the effects and transitions and music and titles cut in—I supposed we were going to have to learn about that, too—but when we got to my sign-off and everyone saw Rhonda and me kiss on the set, there was a collective sigh and then cheers. Even Mom, Dad, and Anna were clapping for us. Rhonda was blushing the brightest red I'd ever seen and I pulled her into my arms and kissed her again.

Our casa was hanging around most of the week, even though Jennifer, Courtney, and I had college classes, tests, and papers to do. I was happy to see Rose, Whitney, and Sam spend extra time with Rhonda to make sure she was where she needed to be when it came time for her to pass Ms. Hammer's tests. At night, I made time to make love to each of my cónyuge but I always woke up in the morning looking into Rhonda's eyes.

Wednesday night, Donna showed up.

"I can afford a couple days of missed classes to be with my sister, my lover, and my hearthmates," she said. "I'm staying until Sunday. I haven't been here in six weeks." Donna and Rhonda slept with me. Rhonda practiced her new skill of rolling a condom onto my cock and then slotted it into her sister's pussy. She kissed her sister as fervently as she kissed me and held us together all night long.

At six on Thursday morning, the caravan began to assemble. Everyone in the clan was going to go to Bloomington. There were ten cars with Moms and Dad. I stopped at UIndy and picked up Elaine. She said she could cut classes, but she had to be back for rehearsal at eight tonight. We got to Bloomington at ten-thirty and Sora jumped into Donna's car when we drove by her dormitory. Then Lamar and Renee followed us out of town about three miles and down a country road. Lamar was still psyched that we'd won a State Championship, even though the Hoosiers had been eliminated in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen by Kansas.

The place Anna turned into wasn't derelict, but it was obvious by the state of the lawn and weeds along the drive that it wasn't occupied. It was a big old standard Indiana farmhouse. If you aren't familiar with that, think of a Borg cube. I didn't get a chance to watch much TV, but last spring there was a time when I just didn't want to think of anything and turned on that Star Trek show. The Borg travel around in a cube that just gets stuff attached to it. "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

I think they modeled it after an Indiana farmhouse. They start out as a cube. Sometimes just the bottom half of one. A bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room. Sometimes the small room behind the bathroom is a nursery. Then they add the top floor. Four bedrooms. No. The bathroom is still downstairs next to the kitchen. The kids are moved upstairs. The nursery becomes a storeroom or maybe Mom and Dad get part of it as a walk-in closet.

Eventually, a kid gets married and they add a room onto the back of the house—maybe expand the master bedroom—and add a bathroom. The house becomes L-shaped. Depending on the family, one or both sets of in-laws eventually move in and another L is added. When the farm is really successful, Mom and Dad move one or more kids out and expand a master suite over one of the Ls upstairs.

Well, that was pretty much what we were looking at. It had three bathrooms. That was the best part. Unfortunately, they were just crowded standard bathrooms. Tub with shower, toilet, and sink. Total space about six feet square. On the other hand, there were six bedrooms. Two were pretty good size—like 12x12 or 12x14. The other four were probably smaller than dorm rooms on campus. You could fit two twin beds and a dresser. When you opened the closet door, you had a rack that continued behind the wall and was the same rack that was in the closet of the next bedroom.

But the downstairs had been remade into a kitchen and great room. It was a big open space and I could see us all sitting down to a meal here.

I'd walked around for a while, finally remembering to look where I put my feet when I crossed from the main house into one of the additions. The floors weren't at exactly the same height. I walked into the kitchen and found Rhonda just staring at it. It wasn't that interesting as far as I could see. They'd done some modernizing and had a breakfast bar that sort of divided it from the rest of the great room. There were no appliances. I put my hand on her shoulder and she turned to me. She was absolutely glowing.

"We could do it right here, Brian," she said.

"Do it?" I squeaked. All right. I'm a guy. I have a guy's brain.

"The show. It wouldn't take too much work. Look, it's open on this side. Plenty of room for cameras and lighting. We'd cut down the breakfast bar and make it a center island for the stove and prep. Can't you see it? We could film your show right here in our home."

The way she talked, I could see it. But one phrase stuck out for me more than anything else she said. 'Our home.'

"Kids, you might be interested in what's outside, too," Anna said. We followed her out the back door to the barn.

The barn.

Everything was cleaned out of it. I mean, not even a straw on the floor. Apparently there'd been a big estate auction before the place went on the market and everything that wasn't nailed down was gone. My voice sort of echoed in the barn.

"Anna, how big is this place?" I asked as we looked out the back at the pasture.

"Oh, the agent said forty acres," she said. She was so nonchalant that you could almost miss it. Our place up north was just twenty acres and we had three...

"Horses!" Jennifer and Courtney both chimed together.

"Dad?" I asked. "Could we bring the horses down here?"

"Why do you think I made you get a car that could pull the trailer? You don't think I'm planning to take care of the horses while you're in college, do you?" he asked. How long had they been planning this? Parents!

"Anna? You'd really buy this for us?"

"I've already made the offer and it is only contingent on your casa's inspection of the property."

We inspected and we kept inspecting. It seemed like we walked every square inch of the forty acres. We were there for three hours. Rhonda got her sister to run her into town to a hardware store where she got a tape measure and paper. She was only interested in the kitchen, but as soon as she had her measurements, the rest of the girls started measuring out the bedrooms, closets, and bathrooms. They started calling out numbers and the guys kept sketching things out and drawing floor plans.

Dad took me outside again and we walked around the front of the property.

"Son, do we have your attention?"

"Dad, I don't believe what I'm seeing. I'm just overwhelmed."

"When Anna brought us the idea, Mom and I tried to talk her out of it. Not because we didn't want her to do it, but because it's really her nest-egg. This represents everything she got from selling the house in Kokomo. But, son, Mom and I love that woman. If I never had anything else in my life to thank you for, I'd thank you for bringing her to us. I want you to know that when you move out, the three of us will probably move up to your big room. You have the best space in the house, you know. This ... farm," he said with a sweeping gesture, "is our message to you and your clan that we believe in you. And personally, we plan to live happily ever after."

"Dad, I don't know what to say. I guess, though, that we've got to figure out how to allocate space. What did we count? Nineteen of us? That's three-point-one-six-seven per room and six-point-one-six-seven per bathroom. Even as big as this place is, that's still going to be crowded."

"Well, don't count the other parents out just yet," he said. I looked at him. "This is unzoned county. There is nothing that says you couldn't expand or, say, park a mobile home in an appropriate place. I know you are all one clan, but you are different families within the clan. What do you call it? Casas? We're not trying to force you all into one living space."

There wasn't anything I could say. I hugged my dad and we went to look at the barn again. We spent the next half hour calculating how many bales of hay and straw we could store in the loft and how many horses the farm would support if we decided to expand the herd. I could see there was one corral that was set up for riding. If we put a pole barn over it, we could still ride in the ring in bad weather.

I got the guys together and had them help me take measurements of the outbuildings, too. If we were going to park a couple of mobile homes, we'd need to know where electric and water were coming from, how the septic system worked and where it was located, and I needed more information on the barn and equipment shed. I wasn't interested in raising cattle, but this place was ideal for horses and a couple dogs running around. And kids. It would be a great place to raise kids.

We had so much to think about this summer.

We kissed Sora, Lamar, and Renee goodbye and got Elaine back to Indy in time for her rehearsal. They all promised to come home for the weekend on Saturday. Rhonda sat in the back seat with Cassie and Josh. Rose was plastered against my side in front with Whitney as we chattered all the way back home.

"It almost makes me wish I'd decided to come to IU, too," Josh said.

"You can if you want to, sweetheart," Cassie said laying her head on his shoulder. "I have to go to Bethel, but you don't."

"I know, love, but I was over there Monday to tour the campus and met with some of the professors and the coach. I'm sure this is the right thing for my life," Josh said. "And Cassie, I know we haven't made any vows to each other, but I'm telling you right now that I want to be with you. 'Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my god.'"

"Aww," Rose said. "Do we need to have a fire?"

"Rose!" Cassie was blushing hot enough to start the fire.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," I said. "This afternoon was the first time we've had the whole clan together. With everyone coming over on Saturday, a real fire instead of just in the fireplace would be great."

There was a roar outside and I edged to the right to give Nicki and Liz extra room to pass me on their motorcycles. Mary took a hand from Nicki's waist long enough to wave. Doug was not being so brave behind Liz. I was willing to bet that Doug would get a lot shakier later tonight. Riding those bikes did something to Nicki's and Liz's libidos.

"I think Nicolette is going to need some attention tonight," Rhonda said as if reading my mind. "It wouldn't surprise me if Mary wanted to be nearby. I mean really nearby."

"Have you noticed that Nicolette has become more ... I don't know ... more sociable lately?" Rose asked. "I see her smiling and even laughing more often."

"She's really been helping me get caught up this spring," Rhonda said. "It's like she understands where I am, even when I'm not being very nice."

"You fill a spot in our lives that was empty when you left," Whitney said. "I'm sure you know that Brian loves you and missed you. And that Sam loves you. But we all really missed you while you were gone, Rhonda. We're so happy to have you back with us." I looked over at Whitney. She was looking straight ahead. What a beautiful thing to say.

"Rose?" Rhonda said softly. "If we have a fire Saturday night, may I sign the charter and accept a gi for Casa del Fuego?"

I choked back my tears as I listened to the exchange. She was really coming back to us.

Nicki got the special attention she craved Thursday night. And, indeed, Mary plastered herself up against us while I licked and fingered Nicki to a very vocal orgasm that got the other girls giggling so much that Nicki started to get mad until Rhonda and Mary sandwiched her between them and just held her. Before long, Nicki started giggling, too.

"Brian, we have a date Saturday morning," she said when we'd all settled down.

"What are we doing on our date?" I asked.

"Getting inked." Everyone gasped.

"Um ... Nicki ... um..."

"Brian, a scared girl was ready to jump off the balcony two years ago. You stood there and said, 'Aren't you going to take me with you to get the tattoo?' I'm eighteen now. I want my black rose. And I want you with me." I'd promised. If all I ever had to do to keep Nicki happy and stable was get a little tattoo, I'd do it.

"You know, it's going to hurt like hell," Rhonda whispered. "I speak from experience. I cried and cursed and wanted to run away the whole time he was working on my foot. He was only halfway through when I screamed out 'I hate you, Brian Frost.' Then I saw the finished work and my foot wrapped in saran wrap and I said, 'I love you. I will always love you.' Just be ready, Nicki."